[Dailydrool] From Dawn Smith re: Synthia Ross

[AWoodrum]

The DH here is a retired therapist, he worked for many years in the suicide
and crisis field.  Once some years back he explained to me how people get to
the point of suicide, and I thought hearing this might someday help someone
who is dealing with a person in this frightening place.  Please note that
I'm not telling you his exact words, just my simple understanding.  

He said to think of the depression as a spiral drawing of a vortex or a
tornado, wide at the top and slowly spiraling down and narrowing to a point.
As the depression progresses the person's thought processes start to spiral
inward and down and their thinking narrows and begins to twist and change.
The further down the spiral, the more skewed the person's thinking becomes,
until they get to the point where to them suicide seems the perfectly
logical answer to their problem.  This does not happen overnight, it's a
progression.  And to overcome the suicidal impulses, the person has to be
helped to change their thinking by travelling back around and up and out of
the spiral.  Again, a process that takes time.  Not everyone who is
depressed will become truly suicidal, but those who do normally follow this
path.

Synthia was going to stop here and visit a while when she left the East and
headed West, but her travel plans changed and we never got to meet her.
Miss Holly the Dolly is the only one of my hounds who is still left from
that time, it was several years ago.  Thank you, Dawn, for all you did and
tried to do.  She loved her hounds a lot and knew they would be safe with
you, which hopefully gave her some peace.  May the souls of all the faithful
departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

Anita Woodrum
awoodrum at clear.net