Pulling loved ones out of the lure of suicide

Michael Gerson of the Washington Post (March 3, 2010) reports that "the mind does not experience itself as a scientific object but, rather, as an interpreter of reality.  One's brain can contemplate one's spleen objectively.  One's brain cannot consider one's brain objectively, because its judgments seem real even when they are distorted."  Thus, when a person "decides to take [their] own life, [they] enter a shut-off, impregnable but wholly convincing world where every detail fits and each incident reinforces [their] decision."  Yet suicide is preventable and coping can be learned, and friends and family can play a very important part.  To learn more . . .