Suicide Options

[*ersatz*]

One of my best friend's dad just killed himself on Monday. We've been trying to deal with it and help her the best we can all week. I'm mentally and physically exhausted; I've been at her house every night, everyone's brought so much food over. She's been taking it really well, but she occasionally has some breakdowns. She somewhat blames herself, saying like maybe if she had told him she loved him more or included him more, he would have been happier, and how she saw it coming cause he was suddenly happy like three days ago and the policeman told her that people do that when they make the decision to let it all go. Thursday was the wake, which wasn't too sad, but just really...strange since his body was there. Friday was awful though; the funeral was Friday morning and I couldn't hold back any tears at all. I couldn't look at either her or her mom because it was just too sad and we were all trying to hold them back so we could be strong for her and stuff. I just don't know what to say to her. I'm usually the go-to gal for listening and advice, but all I can do now is listen and just stay with her because she'll really need all of her friends when it actually hits her (it hasn't hit me yet, either).

Have you ever known someone who committed suicide? Were you really close to them? How did you deal with it? Were there ways in which you helped someone out who was hurt by it?

[ersatz]

Well, obviously it's not a good thing, but I'm not gonna sit here criticizing the poor guy for it. Obviously he wasn't doing too well and if he needed to go so far as to end his life over it, he had problems. OBVIOUSLY I know it affects other people too, what do you think the topic is about? I'm not condoning it.

Anyway, my friend is doing really, really well. She came back to school yesterday and she's been able to keep her mind off it for a while. I got her all caught up on the homework she missed and now she's able to like...talk about it without breaking down. She's being really strong; I'm proud of her.