For anyone who's played Zelda, Breath of the Wild, there is a character who patrols a bridge to keep it safe from monster. If you jump on the edge of the bridge, he will talk you down and then offer to continue conversation.<p>I thought I read it was based on a japanese person, but it may have been based on an american cop who patrolled a bridge in san francisco.<p>Either way, it reminded me of this story. At the point at which you find this bridge character you are likely feeling quite down about the game world, and isolated. So it's a more poignant scene than I can describe in text.<p><a href="https://checkpointorg.com/zelda-mental-health/" rel="nofollow">https://checkpointorg.com/zelda-mental-health/</a>
Just an interesting aside: whenever I see Japanese articles translated, the reported speech ascribed to older Japanese interviewees often includes such language as "I'm like, 'Hey, how are you doing?'".<p>I wonder if that's an indicator of the translator's age. The Japanese person in question is 73, and I wouldn't expect the average 73 year old English speaker to use that sort of language. 'Like' as a substitute for 'say' seems to be more recent, generationally-speaking.<p>I would be curious to know what the person would have said in Japanese.
Self worth is so fragile. I remember vividly being called a loser just one time in middle school. It has occurred to me at various times in life, even though I know the person who said it doesn't remember it, and they were also WRONG. Still, it gets me down.<p>I've not been seriously suicidal in life, but it occurs to me that thoughts of suicide maybe is not as difficult to reach as first appears.
I live in front of a bridge in Japan and every other weekend late at night I hear/see firetrucks and ambulances rushing to the river side.<p>I've never seen anyone jump but I know it's happening. Sometimes there are flowers near where the person jumped.<p>Whenever I cross the bridge and see someone standing by the edge I always wonder if they're there for that... I've never talked to anyone. I should.
Great article about a great human. I just wish they hadn't mentioned that piece of garbage youtube person as any press is good press for people like him.
I used to think "people would just go somewhere else". This is wrong. In my mind, there is a demand, and the user would just find a new supply. With suicide from bridge jumps, this is not the case, and there is quite a bit of evidence that suggests intervention in these acute situations can save peoples lives, and they will go on to live 90% of the time. <a href="http://seattlefriends.org/files/seiden_study.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://seattlefriends.org/files/seiden_study.pdf</a>
God bless Yukio Shige.<p>It's pretty impossible to describe what depression is like. You just have to experience it for yourself. One book I read by Gary Paulsen (I think maybe "The Raft"?) when I was younger described "true hunger" as "not 'oh I missed a meal', or 'I will go hungry today', but 'I believe in my bones there will never be any food on this earth ever again'". That's kind of what depression is: a "true hunger" of some sort.