ITL151: When Someone in Your Life Commits Suicide

In the Loop with Andy Andrews

Matt Lempert

Business

4.9 • 614 Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2014

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s episode, I respond to a listener question about discussing the topic of depression and suicide prevention.

This week’s topic comes from a father who lost his daughter to suicide in a nationally televised story.

I know it must be one of the hardest things in the world when somebody you love so deeply makes a decision to do this.
I heard in your letter that she left behind two boys, 3 & 7.
Navigating this for them is going to be tough.
As they get older, they will need your presence and your son-in-law’s guidance.

You may have heard people or doctors say this kind of thing runs in families.

I’m not a medical doctor, so I can’t speak to the actual working of the brain. But I take a different view.
I think when a family member commits suicide, it brings that up as an option.
Unless it’s dealt with, I think other family members can think, “well, so-and-so did this, and this is how they dealt with that.”

The tough thing about this will be to separate your daughter from the act and remember the love that she had.

I can imagine that as sad as you are about this, you might be a little mad too for her child and husband.
I really feel like forgiveness is the reset button that needs to be pushed here.

I want you to be very aware of how grateful you can be for her life.

I am sure there are many moments you can call upon that were times of joy and excitement that she added to your life.
In the midst of your sorrow, remember to be grateful for that gift of her life and what it meant to you, your wife, and so many other people.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to In the Loop, a unique opportunity to see life from a different perspective
0:06.5	with New York Times bestselling author, Andy Andrews.
0:10.4	Now here's your host, David Loy.
0:13.0	Hi, and welcome to In the Loop with Andy Andrews.
0:16.1	I'm your host, David Loy, and I am honored once again to be sitting across from you, Andy.
0:21.5	David? I am honored to be here, buddy. Excellent. Well, I know at the beginning of these,
0:27.8	we typically, you know, we joke around, we try to have a good time, we're smiling and stuff,
0:32.5	but I got to tell you the question that we're going to do today is at a level where I feel like we should just kind of
0:38.5	jump straight into it. And it's a necessary topic, but it's certainly serious. So I don't want to
0:44.9	sit here and, I mean, we try to be very real here. I don't want to pretend that we're having a blast.
0:50.0	And then all of a sudden we get really serious. So if you don't mind, let me just go ahead and jump right into this.
0:56.7	That's fine.
0:57.6	This actually comes from, it's a fairly well-known story that has unfortunately been in the media nationwide, actually worldwide.
1:07.5	I've seen a lot of international sites that covered it.
1:12.4	A very unfortunate story that took place in Oregon several weeks ago, and we received an email. This comes from Bill in Oregon,
1:19.5	so let me just go ahead and read this to you. Andy, I first saw you on TV several months ago,
1:25.6	and since then I've read most of your books. I'm really struggling
1:29.5	following the loss of our daughter, Jennifer Houston. Tragic ending to a national televised story
1:37.2	of her being missing for 12 days. We lived with this, with my wife of 38 years, two adult sons, her husband, Kalin, and her two boys who are three and seven years old.
1:50.0	It is well known that Jennifer committed suicide by now, and the support of friends, community, and even strangers has been overwhelming.
2:00.0	Every day, my family and I struggle with why, while still understanding that only she and
2:06.7	God know.
	...

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