Apr 7, 2023 04:31 PM
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/116810482...ncy-martin
INTRO: Clancy Martin has lived most of his life with two incompatible ideas in his head: "I wish I were dead – and I'm glad my suicides failed." Martin has survived more than 10 suicide attempts and he wrote his new memoir – How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind – especially for those who have attempted suicide, or struggle with suicidal thoughts.
"I am tremendously relieved that I did not die as a consequence of any of my suicide attempts," Martin says. "I'm so relieved that I am alive."
Martin says John Draper, who served as director of The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, told him that anyone who survives a suicide attempt has a "superpower" — because they understand what it's like to be suffering in that way and are now in a position to help others going through something similar.
"So much of what drives the suicidal mind is the stigma of suicide, the shame of suicide, of having made an attempt of being afraid to reach out for help, of being afraid to talk to someone else," Martin explains. "And so the more we can talk about suicide openly, the more suicidal people we can help."
Martin is the author of over a dozen books on philosophy and has translated works by Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. He's a professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and Ashoka University in New Delhi, India... (MORE - details)
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On asking his college students whether they've thought about suicide
On his top piece of advice: Get rid of the gun
On how he is liberating himself from suicidal thinking
On existentialist philosophy and suicide
On the Tibetan prayer "May we be happy without hope"
On calling or texting the mental health/suicide hotline 988
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/116810482...ncy-martin
INTRO: Clancy Martin has lived most of his life with two incompatible ideas in his head: "I wish I were dead – and I'm glad my suicides failed." Martin has survived more than 10 suicide attempts and he wrote his new memoir – How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind – especially for those who have attempted suicide, or struggle with suicidal thoughts.
"I am tremendously relieved that I did not die as a consequence of any of my suicide attempts," Martin says. "I'm so relieved that I am alive."
Martin says John Draper, who served as director of The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, told him that anyone who survives a suicide attempt has a "superpower" — because they understand what it's like to be suffering in that way and are now in a position to help others going through something similar.
"So much of what drives the suicidal mind is the stigma of suicide, the shame of suicide, of having made an attempt of being afraid to reach out for help, of being afraid to talk to someone else," Martin explains. "And so the more we can talk about suicide openly, the more suicidal people we can help."
Martin is the author of over a dozen books on philosophy and has translated works by Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. He's a professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and Ashoka University in New Delhi, India... (MORE - details)
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On asking his college students whether they've thought about suicide
On his top piece of advice: Get rid of the gun
On how he is liberating himself from suicidal thinking
On existentialist philosophy and suicide
On the Tibetan prayer "May we be happy without hope"
On calling or texting the mental health/suicide hotline 988
