I'll just warn you that this is a pretty serious post involving true human trajedy... suicide. But the story gives some insight into the struggles one man had with many challenges throughout his [brief] life.
In class we'll discuss the similarites and differences of mental disorders and self-esteem. As you read this news account, consider some of the factors in this person's life that may have delivered challenges to his self-esteem.
- What messages might he have drawn from his family environment?
- What factors might have limited his ability to form a meaningful support system?
- How was he attempting to make good out of bad with his life?
As I will mention in class, suicide is a long-term solution to a short-term problem.
-Jeff
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2 comments:
After reading this article, I could not see clear a picture of “Why he lit himself on fire and leapt to death”. To me this is a hard case to decipher because of the facts that are in this story and the facts that are missing. The story mentions that David stated: “I’m just disappointed in myself“, it doesn’t say why he felt that way or what he was going through, no details whatsoever. Even though, David and his family moved from home to home and did not have a stable residence through the course of his life, he seemed to be enjoying the simple things that life offered: weekend camping with family on Thanksgiving Day, he enjoyed rapping, managed to get good grades, even with the late start and got a GED. When I finished reading this article I came to the conclusion that, this young man of 20 years of age had positive things going for himself and appeared to have a good level of self esteem but at the end his self esteem level dropped to below zero. It seems confusing because, persons who commit suicide have low self esteem and what I read about David does not lead me to believe that his self esteem was that low. In my opinion, by looking at the picture of David, it gave me the impression that David had his life in order and was a together type of guy. This story does not mention anything specific or detailed about David’s mother or David himself. Why did the mother lose custody of David and Rose? Did she have a drug problem? Did she have a problem with alcohol? Did she have an abusive relationship that her kids might have exposed to? Did David have a problem with alcohol or drugs? Was David’s stress level so high that he felt the need to commit suicide? We don’t know, and that’s why we have to explore different factors that might have contributed and led him to commit suicide. His suicide contradicts the lyrics in his song that state “never give it up” and I am sure he was referring to life, this shows me that his manner of thinking was unstable. David says it in the name he chose for himself as a rapper: Artist Living in Stressful Times, I believe he had hidden issues he did not let go of. I believe that David needed help, whether it was through counseling or family support. He had a lot of positives in his life and needed help to turn all his negativity into positivity. We, as counselors or future counselors have to listen carefully to our clients and look for signs or hints that suggest suicidal tendencies, so that we can help prevent such a terrible act.
Reading this article was heart aching, this young man of 20 had his whole life ahead of him. Most of his family members described him as a person with high dreams and that they were his priority. From a very young age his family was extremely disorganized. His mother raising 5 children I think alone. Had to give 3 of them out to adoption because she could not raise them on her own. Then there was the moving from city to city and apartment to apartment. After that his mother was not able to support them either so they were given to their father. with such moves David had no time to make friends and build his support system. Relationship with the parents wasn't very strong either since they were in and out of the home. The on person he LOVED an old girlfriend was lost in the moves and he felt lost without her. The only person he relieved on was his younger cousin of 8 but he couldn't tell him all of his dilemmas. All the bad that was occurring in his life David involved it in his lyrics but he did not receive any feedback through that. He was a young man with all the wishes in the would lives challenges were extreme and no support was obtained by the families behalf. Filled with his stress and problem he ended his life.
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