Suicide and Shock

Recently I heard about Takotsubo cardiomyopathy occurring when a woman was notified her best friend had died by suicide. The shock was doubly compounded because church administration refused to allow the individual to be interred in the family mausoleum because the death was the result of violating a ‘Thou shalt not kill’ commandment. They all were unaware of current research leading to the conclusion that people kill themselves only when their brains are in an altered state. While that was somewhat stress-reducing for the survivor, it didn’t ‘cut it’ for the guardians of the mausoleum. Candace B. Pert PhD was very clear that when the brain is in the grip of a strong emotion it is in an altered state. When the brain is in an altered state, that brain is at risk for taking actions and exhibiting behaviors that it might not do had the brain been functioning optimally. More tomorrow.