You can die by just giving up the will to live?

[Jadedcat]

Apparently it's called psychogenic death and you can basically will yourself to die. This article explains it, Psychogenic Death.

Thoughts?

 

[AnxietyAttack44]

Its not as easy as it sounds. Youre basically sleeping in your own waste, not moving , eating or drinking at all. Not sure if many would want to go that way. I also doubt id die if i did that, body seems to endure much more then that. Maybe in some cases it could happen, but it would be hard to achive on purpose, willingly.

 

[Kassender]

I think it's bullshit :)
I'd be long dead. Like years long.

 

[woxihuanni]

No. What you call your will is absolutely nothing compared to the mechanisms that built your body to survive over billions of years.

 

[ebt88]

You can willingly stop drinking and eating but takes many days maybe weeks and hard to do by yourself really

 

[AnxietyAttack44]

You can willingly stop drinking and eating but takes many days maybe weeks and hard to do by yourself really

And others might be there to help you fail that method. Unless youre all alone somewhere with no people around.

 

[Fragile]

I think it's definitely possible, but you need a lot of pre-existing health and mental conditions and an extremely traumatic event for it to work. and that trauma is something beyond just wanting to kill yourself, imagine being so depressed that your body starts shutting down and you stop being a person at that level, you no longer want to live or die.

seems like a horrible way to go.

I remember when I was at one of the lowest points in my life, I lost over 20 kilos in a short period of time, and I wasn't even fat, it was both bone mass and muscles that started wasting away. the only thing that pulled me out of it was seeing my family suffer because of it, and also spite towards the medical "professionals" that constantly dismissed me even at my lowest, I even suffered some mini strokes at the hospital and they didn't care. it's funny to think that the strong emotions of hate and love kept me alive.

 

[Soul]

In old romance novels like the Brontes and that ilk, people died of things like brain fever and broken hearts, looking alluring and at the best dramatic moment.

Don't we all wish...

 

[AnxietyAttack44]

In old romance novels like the Brontes and that ilk, people died of things like brain fever and broken hearts, looking alluring and at the best dramatic moment.

Don't we all wish...

My heart broke, and i have heart issues. Its so hard to die from it though if youre not, so to say, old.

 

[FriendofDeath]

Yes, I think it happens, and that I was well on my way. Not sure what stopped it. Probably all the appointments I had immediately following the trauma. I researched Broken Heart Syndrome, but this seems to describe my actions or inactions better. I remember sitting in front of my laptop and having no idea how to look up addresses for sympathy cards. I had trouble reading and comprehending for a number of years - it's still an issue. Lately I've noticed I am having trouble following conversations. Even before my traumatic event, I had difficulty learning new material. Trauma affects different people in different ways. Some people can compartmentalize while others might bury it. Some can seemingly blow it off and others become paralyzed. I do think you can will yourself to die. What's described here sounds like a psychotic break.

 

[Soul]

My heart broke, and i have heart issues. Its so hard to die from it though if youre not, so to say, old.

I've noticed! It's fucking hard to get terminal "brain fever" too, whatever that is.

 

[SpottedPanda]

I used to be really into the self help and make money crowd, so I learned of the subconscious, autosuggestion, and affirmations.

When I first became suicidal I willed myself, writing daily in my diary, and obsessing over the command 'I want to stop breathing in my sleep'.

After a few weeks, I awoke one night with a closed throat, breathing through a pinhead hole, it seemed. I had sleep apnea for the first time in my life.

It was terrifying, and I'd never before seen as much value in the motto 'be careful what you wish for'.

 

[TAW122]

I'm in agreeance with others here. I don't think this is a good way to go given that one has to go well beyond the body's physical capabilities of sustaining life (starvation, dehydration, and then ultimately dying of natural causes). Also, it is not a good way to go because of the physical and mental torture going on while in the process of expiration (dying).

 

[Iwanttooffmyself]

I did the research, and it's usually trauma related. You have to lose every single bit of hope possible, and even then there are stages to get to the death part. Even at my most abject depressed suicidal incapable of fun stage, I still cared about my life enough to get up and go pee. One of the steps to die like this is to stop caring about every single bodily need.

 

[Anonymoussn]

I'm sceptical of this. The article doesnt seem to mention an actual cause of death. Ie, did the person starve to death? Id like to know more, but unfortunately the study that it references is not available for free.

There is a quote in the article, which might clear this up a little bit, which says 'the thing that stood out was that their death was basically inexplicable'. If it is inexplicable, how do we know that the death was caused by so-called 'giveup-itis', and not some unknown other condition?

Also, the use of examples from concentration camps makes me further sceptical. We know that prisoners in these camps were severely malnourished, and weak. How do we know that these people were giving up, and weren't just too weak to move?

Because we've not been given any detail about what actually happened physically to the bodies that led up to their death, (did their organs begin to break down? Was there some sort of deterioration of their brain? Did they starve to death?) it is impossible to say as to whether this is a real thing or not.

Furthermore, if this does actually turn out to be a real thing, whilst certainly interesting, there would be no realistic way of intentionally causing this.

 

[Living sucks]

I did the research, and it's usually trauma related. You have to lose every single bit of hope possible, and even then there are stages to get to the death part. Even at my most abject depressed suicidal incapable of fun stage, I still cared about my life enough to get up and go pee. One of the steps to die like this is to stop caring about every single bodily need.

I am living this now. I can tell you it is the most horrific way to die ever!
I had massive instantaneous illness, (From am injection), suffered not knowing what happened, then traumatized by losing everything and I mean everything, emotionally, physically, spiritually, traumatized, then another massive physical medical injury (more trauma) heart shattered, and I've been dying for 3 years!
I have been willing myself to die and it hasn't happened yet. This takes a looooong time! Too long

 

[262653]

Will yourself to die? What does that mean?

 

[DeathIsTheWayOut99]

I want this right now

Cause if I die then I will hopefully be loved more in death than when I was alive

 

[Abgrundanziehung]

When I was a kid I used to believe I could will myself to die. Like people dying of a broken heart. Not to spoil the surprise for anyone, but it didn't work.

 

[Aap]

When you get it down, let us know. Think about it, wouldn't many of the people who take their lives actually die of this method before they are able to pull the trigger/jump/etc if this were true?

 

[Final Escape]

I swear this is happening to me right now. I don't even have to ctb my depressed state will get me there.