We joke about the "funny farm," the loony bin, the crazy house, being sent to Chattahoochee, Western State, Westville or Ypsilanti - whatever your nearby mental institution is called. And suicide has almost always been treated as a hush hush subject. Newspapers do not mention cause of death, but people speculate. In the enlightened, modern, medically improved years of the 21^st century, we still have a long long way to go in terms of attitudes towards mental illness, hospitalization, and suicide. No one knows how it is like the survivors.

I felt rejection by other people.
You know, the minute you were honest
about your son dying by suicide, whoops -
there's this wall.
I understand that people don't know what to say.
So we have a lot of educating to do.
Gail Fox, educator and survivor of son's suicide.

Not a Matter of Choice

"We live in a world where people hang on to old stereotypes, and in order to stop future loss of lives by suicide, we must educate and not let these stereotypes persist," says Carol Loehr.

Stigma of Suicide and Mental Illness

Carl H. Fritts, Jr. defines the stigma of suicide and mental illness, and then gives examples of experiences.

Stereotypes and Suicide

Letizia Grasso writes: "So I brazenly speak of my son's suicide, to break down the wall of silence and misunderstanding that surrounds this taboo subject." 

The Stigma of Suicide

By Janice Arenofsky.  "Despite attempts at education undertaken by schools, nonprofits and other organizations, suicide--especially among young people--has failed to find a secure spot in our national psyche."

How do we diminish the stigma?
How do we decrease the ignorance?
How do we honor those who have died?
Not honoring the choice they made,
but honoring them as people who were in pain
and had an illness that they died of.
Jill Marks, survivor