Dear SS8282 --

I am glad that you didn't get on that boat that is so familiar to so many of us, too.

I have often been suicidal over the past year. I used my research skills to find out what methods are least painful and most likely to succeed, and decided on a method and got the ingredients together. Even called a crisis hotline once.

Then I felt like I didn't "have the courage" to do it, and like the "drama queen" my brother says I am.

My therapist said -- It doesn't take courage to die. It takes courage to live, when you are in pain.

It doesn't matter, in the end, whether the "reasons" for our pain make sense to anyone else -- the pain is very, very real.

I havfe read that 15% of all seriously depressed people succeed at ending their lives. That is a very high percentage, if it is true.

Depression is a very serious illness. It can kill us.

I am so grateful that your disease didn't take you from us.