Why Do Do Many Expats Kill Themselves Here?

[aussiebebe]

I'm always suspicious when I read about jumping suicides over here as that's so unusual for Westerners, however for those who do choose suicide it's a puzzle to me. I imagine that if I'd resigned myself to such a fate I'd just do lots of irresponsible things that I wouldn't care about, but I don't know how I'd feel, suicide is such a mystery because all the 'successful' people aren't around to explain themselves or their feelings. There should be some sort of outreach that people could contact, but I think most foreigners know they could always contact their embassy in emergencies.

[metisdead]

Some rather nonsense troll posts have been removed as well as the replies.

[thenervoussurgeon]

i can understand if you have a terminal illness and in a lot of pain maybe,but nothing is worth dying for ,is it?

Does "nothing" include terminal illness or a lot of pain?

Actually i dont know ,but it would be a compelling reason ,unlike if some bar girl leaves you ,a hell of a lot of people in Pattaya seem to do the "Pattaya high dive" and i really dont think that most are murders.

[manly100]

If you’re depressed and add alcohol to your mental state you'll often end up feeling much worse. See a local doctor and tell him how you feel. An anti-depressant prescription often works wonders. It’s cheap, effective and easier on your friends and family. If you must think of suicide give yourself a time frame for things to get better. Like say if things don't improve in 5 years from now and so on. Most people come out of depression. At the very least give a doctor a chance to help you out.

In other news; call came into police station at 11:59 AM, Foreigner shot six times in the head, mmmmmmmm, any video? No, mmmmmmmmmm, probably a suicide, back to lunch.

[SteeleJoe]

First of all, is it so many?

Do you think it is even as many as an average of one per month? I don't. But let's say it was 3 every single month. 36 suicides. Out of what, maybe hundreds of thousands of expats? Let's imagine there are only 5,000 expats. We'd still need 4 suicides a month to get close to 1 percent. And I think we can be sure that it's well over 5,000 living in Thailand and less than 4 a month killing themselves.

Or do you mean foreigners in Thailand including tourists or long time visitors? Then we're talking a tiny number out of millions

Secondly, as has been said, just like anywhere people will kill themselves for a number of reasons but undoubtedly some people come here with pre-existing issues*. And, has also been said, some come here because they have those issues.

I think Jingthing put it so very well -- they sought the "geographic cure" but found out that no matter how far they ran, they couldn't get away from themselves.

EDIT:

* Those issues aren't necessarily completely mental health issues; they might be leaving some sort of awful situation in their home country that could include some or all of a whole range of things from failed relationships or an inability to find one, financial woes, health problems etc

For example -- and I don't want to even seem to suggest that this is typical of suicides or of expats here but it's certainly, to my mind, plausible as being ONE of the sort of scenarios that might lead to a suicide here -- imagine a guy who hasn't done well with finding a partner in his own country who comes here and thinks he's suddenly become as desirable as he's always wanted to be and not only gets lots of positive attention in general but even seems to find someone who really cares for him. He knows coming here has changed his life to what he could only dream of before...and then because he was a bit unwise in his choices and was taken in by a skilled and charming manipulator (as many expats are, at least once), crushing disillusionment sets in and he feels that in fact no matter where he goes or what he does, he's a loser (notice I said he feels that - I'm not calling anyone that) whose doomed to be alone.

Edited December 8, 2012 by SteeleJoe

[Seismic]

I actually have to agree with STEELJOE, I think there is a perception that the numbers are high, because it gets reported fairly well throughout the expat community. In that I only mean really in the last 10-15 years when the internet has come into play. But I also think that there is some latitude in what the Thai authorities call suicide and what is in reality a suicide. Dont get me wrong I am not one of those every farang death must have involved a bargirl/crooked policeman/sick buffalo/large insurance type of people, but I do think that many deaths are not as reported. Having got the obligatory Area 51 stuff out of the way, I still think that while the rate may be slightly higher here, it is only driven by the circumstances that many falang find themselves in here.

apologies if my grammer has gone downhill, I must be getting lazy and spending too much time following the usual suspects who reply in the BP.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Seismic

[SteeleJoe]

I actually have to agree with STEELJOE, I think there is a perception that the numbers are high, because it gets reported fairly well throughout the expat community. In that I only mean really in the last 10-15 years when the internet has come into play. But I also think that there is some latitude in what the Thai authorities call suicide and what is in reality a suicide. Dont get me wrong I am not one of those every farang death must have involved a bargirl/crooked policeman/sick buffalo/large insurance type of people, but I do think that many deaths are not as reported. Having got the obligatory Area 51 stuff out of the way, I still think that while the rate may be slightly higher here, it is only driven by the circumstances that many falang find themselves in here.

apologies if my grammer has gone downhill, I must be getting lazy and spending too much time following the usual suspects who reply in the BP.

Agree.

I deliberately avoided discussing the virtual certainty that some "suicides" are nothing of the sort because I'm also not one of those who thinks every Farang death is a murder mystery and I'm not interested in encouraging that sort of poster here nor am I going to attempt to even guess at what portion are in fact murders. My position is that even if all those reported as suicide were indeed that, I'm not sure it is in fact "so many"...

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

[MiG16]

it would seem that those with the answer are unable to reply

And on this note, I think we have to accept the op is not going to find the answer to question.

No point, and in fact not very nice to speculate about people who are not able to defend/share their views. Respect and lets leave them out from discussions and probes and speculations.