Anyone else participate in this?

"To Write Love On Her Arms" (TWLOHA), for those of you who don't know, is basically an organization dedicated to spreading awareness of things like Depression, Self-Harm/Self-Injury, and Addiction. They also hold benefit concerts where the profits go towards supporting things such as Treatment, Suicide Helplines, and similar things to help manage, and/or treat these problems.

Twice a year, February 12-13, and November 12-13, people who want to show awareness for these things, or even sufferers of these things, will write "Love" on their arms, to raise the awareness, and show the sufferers that they are not alone.

If you're interested in learning more, http://www.twloha.com/index.php

I thought I'd share this with forum members, considering that some of us have suffered, or have had friends/loved ones suffer, from either mental illness, self-harm, suicide, addictions, and various other things that TWLOHA is meant to help with.

In fact, as long as the moderators don't have a problem, maybe anyone who participates in this can feel free to post links to their pictures? I'll start.

TWLOHA (Yeah, my arms are kind of a mess. )

Hope to see some support, guys.

Thank you for raising awareness of this. Having, at times, had problems of my own, and been in contact with other sufferers, any organisation which aims to promote awareness and provide a support network is good news.

No problem.

I think awareness is nice, considering that many people feel alone with their depression, self-harm, and other problems. But seeing someone wearing a TWLOHA shirt (and understanding it, since I've heard some folks see it as a Fashion Statement, and not a REAL Statement), or writing "Love" on their arms, hopefully helps people realize they're not alone, and that other people go through the same problems, or are aware of the problems instead of ignoring them.

This is a nice page on the stats derived from the CDC: http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/b ... icide.html

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), surpassed only by accidents and homicide.

The risk of suicide increases dramatically when kids and teens have access to firearms at home, and nearly 60% of all suicides in the United States are committed with a gun.

Suicide rates differ between boys and girls. Girls think about and attempt suicide about twice as often as boys, and tend to attempt suicide by overdosing on drugs or cutting themselves. Yet boys die by suicide about four times as often girls, perhaps because they tend to use more lethal methods, such as firearms, hanging, or jumping from heights.

These are depressing stats (no, not that depressed!). Is it really that bad now?

-LS

http://www.metanoia.org/suicide/

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1071203.html

http://www.rethink.org/living_with_ment ... index.html

Unfortunately, it IS bad, Letalis. Mostly because of the stigma and teasing behind things like mental illness, self-harm, and addictions.

If I'm not mistaken, almost 90% of people who attempt to, or do commit suicide have some form of mental illness. Self-Harm is probably about the same. In fact, I was just looking at a PDF document here that says in 2004, 87.3% of the "successful" suicides (successful is for lack of a better term, really) were committed by mentally ill persons.

And as TWLOHA's website says, about 2/3 of Depression sufferers never go in to get help, either because of financial reasons, or fear of stigmatization. Its sad, really. TWLOHA's goal, as they also say (under the "Vision" tab) is to raise awareness, so people will know they're not alone, feel less stigmatized, and ultimately, go in to get treatment.

As I said, I figured since people here have known these kinds of issues to affect those they care about, or themselves, thought this might be a cause forum members would be willing to support, either financially, physically (writing Love on their arms), or even emotionally, by stating that yes, they care. You know?

Your post on this was very insightful, sad, and yet, further shows that the cause needs support. I appreciate it, and I'm sure others would as well.

But there is no way of knowing how many of those cases involved kids who would have simply found or tried an alternative way of killing themselves had they not had access to firearms. What makes firearms unique is how effective they are, it's pretty hard to be unsuccessful at killing yourself by gun. Whereas hanging, cutting, pills, if you don't know what you're doing it's easy to make a mistake, which buys enough time that a kid could be found out by parents, teachers, or doctors and then given some kind of mental health treatment.



I am surprised those numbers are so low, given how modern psychology views suicide as a symptom of mental illness. I would expect most therapists to see anyone who wants to kill them self as mentally ill by definition, hence why in most western countries the mental health professionals have a fair amount of power in detaining patients who are "at risk of hurting themselves...[or others]."

Well no, there is a difference between being mentally ill, and just attempting suicide. Sometimes people who are perfectly fine otherwise have a bad moment, and take it a bit overboard. In the scenario mentioned, it's just a temporary lapse of judgement. When you're mentally ill, though, sometimes its as if you can't really control it. Hard to explain, really.

It's takes many, many years to even begin to get a 'handle' on the impulses that make a mentally ill person attempt suicide. Although I don't have a picture of my own arm, perhaps this will make up for my lack?

Uhm, sorry, but I can't read that. Does it even say "Love" or anything?

Although, its still nice to know you're at least understanding. And if you're interested, or if ANYONE is interested, for that matter, March 1st is SIAD (Self-Injury Awareness Day). The ribbon colour for Self-Harm/Self-Injury is Orange.

Although, personally I'll be wearing an orange bracelet, and my Jack Skellington shirt thats black with some orange on it. And maybe orange socks, if I can find where they went to. Its another thing, though more subtle, to raise awareness and show support.

It is a picture of Rozz Williams(who committed suicide) and the tattoo on his left arm that read 'Je T'aime' which means 'I love you' in French. That's why I asked if it counted.

I knew who it was, I just couldn't read the tattoo.

I guess I'll let that slide... Until the next TWLOHA days in November.