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Quote by Thomas Joiner

“There are people who fantasize about suicide, and paradoxically, these fantasies can be soothing because they usually involve either fantasizing about others' reactions to one's suicide or imagining how death would be a relief from life's travails. In both cases, an aspect of the fantasy is to exert control, either over others' views or toward life's difficulties. The writer A. Alvarez stated, " There people ... for whom the mere idea of suicide is enough; they can continue to function efficiently and even happily provided they know they have their own, specially chosen means of escape always ready..." In her riveting 2008 memoir of bipolar disorder, Manic, Terri Cheney opened the book by stating, "People... don't understand that when you're seriously depressed, suicidal ideation can be the only thing that keeps you alive. Just knowing there's an out--even if it's bloody, even if it's permanent--makes the pain bearable for one more day." This strategy appears to be effective for some people, but only for a while. Over longer periods, fantasizing about death leaves people more depressed and thus at higher risk for suicide, as Eddie Selby, Mike Amestis, and I recently showed in a study on violent daydreaming. A strategy geared toward increased feelings of self-control (fantasizing about the effects of one's suicide) "works" momentarily, but ultimately backfires by undermining feelings of genuine self-control in the long run.”

Quote by Thomas Joiner

Book:Myths About Suicide

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Myths About Suicide

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Book:The Dissociative Mind

Source: The Dissociative Mind

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Source: Civilization and Its Discontents

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Book:The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Source: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

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Source: You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself

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Book:The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Source: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

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Source: First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple