I live with someone who is 24 times more likely than the average person to attempt suicide.
My husband is the survivor of extreme childhood trauma — and has lived through years of harrowing neglect and abuse, even bearing witness to his own mother’s multiple attempts to end her life. His heartbreaking upbringing makes him far more susceptible to repeating her patterns. Millions of children and adults suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder will follow suit. He survived ten of eleven Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
Unlike these two celebrities and the thousands of others, my husband has not succumbed completely to the mental demons. Very much like them, he has seen the rock-bottom darkness of despair, wading through life believing there was little left to live for.
For those of us who have never been there, it’s difficult to comprehend the mental state someone has to encompass to kill themselves. For those who have, it’s surprising more people do not end up in the headlines.
Spade and Bourdain may have had normal family lives growing up — and plenty of people with mental illness do. However, a good number of those who attempt suicide are likely survivors of childhood trauma — of events and situations that cut so deep the brain and body are neurologically rewired to view the world as scary, hopeless, and forever repeating the nightmare of their past.
[To read the rest of this article by Ericka Andersen, click here.]
Photo: PXHere
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