This may be a question for Great Debates however the case I am going to state seems pretty clear cut. I would like others’ opinions or even some scientific evidence if there is any about this subject. Maybe one of our residence MB physicians could lend a professional opinion.
Last year a 63 year old male employee in the building where I work came down with a physical debilitation. Seems that two of his vertebrae in his neck suddenly collapsed causing some paralysis. He was taken to the hospital where he was told he would need an operation and several months of rehabilitation in order to function properly again. After only two days in the hospital he announced that he knew he was going to heaven and had raised his children and done most of the things in life that he had set out to do and was ready to die. Six hours later he was dead.
of course we were all very shocked as only a few days before he was busy working in the building. The cause of death as far as I know was heart failure. So I guess my question is obvious, Can we will ourselves to die?
“I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.”
(private Joker in Full Metal Jacket)
I’d certainly say it’s possible as per Cecil’s recent column on the nocebo (sp?) effect. Basically, if you don’t believe the rehabilitation will help, then it won’t.
You often see this with old couples where one of them dies of some random ailment, and the other is already decrepid. The second one goes pretty quick. My wife’s grandmother died only two weeks after her grandfather. Everyone said she just ‘gave up living’ because she couldn’t handle life without her husband and died of a ‘broken heart’ (though I doubt that’s what they put on the death certificate)
Perhaps it was Schultz’s drive to keep doing the strip that kept him going. Once that was finally finished (I know he finished drawing weeks ago, but…), he mentally changed gears. His body relaxed with his change in attitude, and his illness took over.
What would Brian Boitano do / If he was here right now /
He’d make a plan and he’d follow through / That’s what Brian Boitano would do.
I don’t know where I heard or read it, but I seem to remember that the average retiree only drawns 14 months of pension. Of course with statistics, you never know… does that include people who don’t have a pension?
Perhaps it’s not necessarily wanting to die, but not really feeling you have a reason to live. That sounds like the same thing, but I think there’s a slight distinction.
Only an opinion…but I think that you can “give up” and not exactly will yourself to die…but lose the will to live. I have heard many many people have loved ones in the hospital with those loved ones just seeming to hang on for some reason. My mother held out for a whole week longer than they predicted that she would. My brothers and I all took turns staying in the room with her…there was not a minute that one of us was not there beside her bed. The day she passed away…my brother had stepped out of the room for a moment and only my sister in law was in the room…and my mom just took a huge sigh and was gone. I believe it was truly because she didn’t want her children to see her die. Almost a year later…her sister went through the same thing…but she waited until her brother got to the room (he was from out of town) and a few minutes after she heard his voice…she was gone.
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
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There was an article in the New York Times last month about an increase in the death rate in NYC just after the new year, in elderly people. They attributed it to people hanging on to see the millenium, and then letting go.
I’ve certainly often heard that seriously ill people seem to be able to hang on until they reach a particular milestone (a birthday, Christmas, or whatever) and then let go. There seems to be something to the thought that you can will yourself to live, if only a bit longer.
I don’t see why you couldn’t will yourself to die, as well. Mind, I doubt that it would work if your body was completely healthy.
Even for those who are perfectly well, having something to look forward to makes a big difference in your mental outlook – you’re likely to be happier and more energetic, and I would imagine that there are physical effects as well, such as more endorphins produced, lower blood pressure, etc.
There are plenty of young, physically healthy people who are so depressed that they commit suicide. If it was as simple as ‘willing’ yourself to die, then there would be no need to slit your wrists or hang yourself. Most suicides are depressed for months, or even years, before they work up enough courage to kill themselves. If wishing yourself dead was possible, I think more young people would be dying from ‘unknown’ causes, or broken hearts.
On the other hand, I do believe it is possible to put off the inevitable for a little while, just to make it to a milestone, like some other posters have said before. Maybe the real question is why it works one way more often than the other.
RE: working one way and not the other… Men are supposedly more likely to die right AFTER a birthday (reached that milestone), while women have a greater likelihood of dying right BEFORE a birthday (not as old).
If true, it implies that there may be more to it than just losing the will to live.
An ex-girlfriend claims to have had an orgasm while sitting motionless and fantasizing. Now, I know that’s not the same as willing yourself to die (she lived), but it’s the least third-hand account of mind-over-body (like fakirs and yogis) that I could come up with.
I think this can work the other way, too. My husband’s grandmother was diagnosed with a large malignant tumor in her abdomen almost a year ago. At the time she was diagnosed, they guessed she might make it a month. She is in her early 80’s and was in pretty fragile health to begin with. Her oncolgist told the family that surgery wasn’t feasible and chemo would just make her miserable, and she would ultimately die anyway. They chose not to have her treated, but try to make her comfortable.
Two days before Halloween, they called us and told us to come say goodbye. She was under 80 pounds, peeing about every 24 hours, and her respiration & pulse rates were way off. She was reataing so much fluid that her socks were wet from it seeping through the skin. Both her home health nurse and her dughter-in-law, an RN, said it would be an “act of God” if she made it through he night.
About two months ago, they moved her to a nursing home. She is still in bad shape, but she’s still kicking. No one can believe (especially her doctor) that she hasn’t died. Every time we see her, she tells us she’ll see us at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or whatever the next holiday is. So far she’s been right.
Just my opinion, but I think she’s too damn mean to die.
About ten years ago, I saw an article in Discovery magazine regarding how ‘will to live’ might increase one’s lifespan. Specifically, researchers had investigated the death rate of Jewish males and a specific holiday (my knowledge of Judaism isn’t enough, sorry to say, to remember which one); this holiday was one where a specific important task was supposed to be carried out by the patriarch of the family. The study of death rates found that the death rate for the group declined 30% in the month before the holiday; and the death rate then rose 30% in the month following the holiday. In other words, over the aggregate two-month period, there was no change in death rates, but that there was serious evidence that the men had pushed themselves beyond their “normal lifespan” in order to celebrate this holiday one more time, and then ‘let go’ afterwards. A second study, done of elderly Chinese women and a holiday where the matriarch of the family had a primary role, came up with similar data.
So it’s certainly possible to will oneself to live a bit longer when something important is coming up; I don’t see how it would be much harder to will oneself to let go when one is at peace and facing serious debilitation.
Not to turn this into a great debate, or anything, but there is a false premise in assuming that the absence of successful suicides by people under the effects of severe depression are not successful in simply exercising their will to stop living. One of the most frequently debilitated aspects of personality in a severely depressed person is the sapping of their will. Young people have very little experience with focusing the mind and spirit to overcome difficult boundaries.
Life and Death are matters of profound importance to the human organism. To die by act of will is a task, which would require a level of concentration, and mental focus that is unlikely for a person who is suffering from depression. The type of mental and spiritual confidence that would be needed is probably only possible in people who are serene, and satisfied with themselves. To die, because one has accomplished the task of living is not the same mental event as wishing to die because one despises life.
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Happy Valentine’s Day
So far nobody has suggested how somebody might actually go about willing themselves to die.
It seems to me that the will to live, or postpone death as others have posted would be the exact opposite.
From a practical stanpoint how would you do it?
Well, you could hold your breath. Unfortunately as soon as you passed out you would start breathing again.
Supposedly it’s possible to gain a degree of control over one’s autonomic nervous system.
So perhaps through some form of yoga one might be able to slow one’s heart beat down to the point of death. I don’t see why the autonomic nervous system wouldn’t take over again as soon as unconsciousness was achieved.
Maybe through willpower one might force his ki (for lack of a better word,) entirely outside his body so that what was left was a dead empty husk.
Let’s pretend for a second that all of the above are possible. What makes them any different from a tradittional suicide?
While the elderly don’t often commit suicide, they are almost always successful when they make the attempt. It seems to me that it would take a considerable act of will to slice one’s veins open with a razor.
What does it matter if it’s done by mindpower alone, or with aid of a sharp utensil?
Padeye:
Had forgotten the “Little Death,” but you’re right – very apropos.
As for estate taxes… snort Co-worker demanded to know what I was reading that was so damn funny. I didn’t even try to explain.