The most suicides, worldwide per population, happen in Guyana, South America. Followed by Lesotho, Africa / Russia, Europe / and Lithuania, Europe. In the Top 20, African countries hold more than half the spots.
At the other end of the spectrum are a host of Caribbean countries. Barbados has the fewest, followed by Antigua / Bahamas / Grenada / Jamaica. The list includes 183 countries, with the United States falling at number 34. Our rate is 13.7 per 1000 people. More males commit suicide than females, as an item of note. (30.2 per 1000 = highest in Guyana; 0.4 = lowest in Barbados)
The only reason I bring this up is because today is Virginia Woolf’s birthday. Of course, she is the English author from the early 1900s. She was significant figure in London literary society, an author, a critic, a publisher, and more than anything, an intellect. Virginia’s brilliant life ended by suicide.
He birth name was Adeline Virginia Stephen, given to her on the 25th of January in 1882. Born in South Kensington, London, England. She didn’t become Woolf until she was 30 years old, when she married Leonard Woolf.
But, before all of that was her childhood. She experienced troubles for most of her life with mental illness. This came on after she lost her mother to influenza when Virginia was only 13 years old. Her sister died shortly thereafter. And then, her father passed away in 1904. Hearing of his death, Woolf threw herself out of a window. Other things, too, brought her great sadness during her young life.
During her adulthood, she was institutionalized several times and attempted suicide at least twice. Her illness is considered to have been bipolar disorder. As it turns out, there really wasn’t any effective intervention during her lifetime for this. I am not sure when Bipolar Disorder started to be treated effectively. Nonetheless. Virginia Woolf would hit her very low lows. And. In 1941, at age 59, Woolf died by putting rocks in her coat pockets and drowning herself in the River Ouse, at Lewes.
These days, Woolf is regarded as one of the most important twentieth century novelists. She was a modernist. And, she was one of the pioneers of using “stream of consciousness” in her work — as a narrative device. She exchanged high ideas with her contemporaries which included Marcel Proust, Dorothy Richardson and James Joyce.
But, her light and her life, went out too early.
If you, or anyone you know might need to talk to someone about any of this, you can always reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. That Lifeline “provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.”
Their number: 1-800-273-8255
=========
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
― Dr. Seuss
========
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
― Lao Tzu
========
“I am rooted, but I flow.”
― Virginia Woolf
=========
