How the Your Brain Reacts To Your Suicide Attempts – Interview Gary L. Wenk
This interview is based on the article: How Suicide Can Affect the Brain written by Gary L. Wenk Ph.D.
Why did you decide to write about how the Brain reacts to a suicide attempt?
My blogs are usually written in response to questions I receive from my students. I assume that if they’re interested in knowing the answer then others might be as well. You’ve heard about Asher’s novel “13 Reasons Why;” it’s been a topic of discussion on TV and social medial for awhile. Also, I saw a report on TV about a man who almost asphyxiated in his garage while using an electrical generator (which puts out quite a lot of carbon monoxide). Also, a long time ago I performed an autopsy on a man who had successfully committed suicide by CO poisoning. He had petechial hemorrhages throughout his hippocampus, a brain structure critical for learning and memory. That’s how the story evolved in my head; I usually pull disparate bits of related information into a novel story that I think might be relevant to others.
The suicide by carbon monoxide is far less effective than most methods, yet thousands of people each year choose this method. Why do you believe they incur in this method?
First of all, it appears to be a method that is widely known in the general population. Prior to the introduction of catalytic converters on cars, it was quite effective. I think that it’s still “popular” because it seems so non-violent. People assume, correctly, that they’ll just fall asleep and not wake up.
How is the brain affected after a suicide attempt?
There are way too many caveats in order for me to answer that question. Its depends upon the drug taken, how much was taken, the person’s past history with that drug (i.e. tolerance), the person’s age and health status and also how many different drugs were taken. Finally, the effects upon the brain would be determined by the drug’s mechanism of action, i.e. why was the drug lethal?
The people that fail suicide attempt, how likely are they to try again and is there a time frame when they are more likely to do so?
Most people do try again if they do not receive the attention they are asking for or some kind of intervention by a medical professional. Each attempt tends to be more deadly.
I read you are a leading authority when it comes to Alzheimer’s. After a CO poisoning you mention that most survivors have symptoms similar to those related to Alzheimer’s disease. Are survivors more prone?
The symptoms are similar to those of a person with AD. However, there is insufficient epidemiological evidence to prove that CO can predispose a person to AD. I would predict that the answer to your question is yes.
Together with the two therapies you mention (Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and Aricept therapy), are there other ways to help the brain heal and go back to its previous state?
None that are currently accepted by the general medical community. The problem is that CO poisoning actually kills neurons; today, we have no treatment that can re-grow neurons.
When a person’s brain is dying, what are the last functions to go away?
Once again, it does depend upon how the person is dying, e.g. hypoxia vs. ischemia vs. stroke vs. cancer… In general, the most evolutionarily modern regions of the brain are most vulnerable to death.
Would you mind recommending some book or article regarding the subject?
I am not aware that any book exists on the topic of CO effects upon the brain, however, the medical literature can be searched to find numerous published articles.
The focus of carbon monoxide poisoning surprised me, I’ve seen it in movies and in past research for suicide attempts, but was not aware that it was still a popular method. The damage it does to your brain after an attempt is an after thought in these individuals’ minds, but it is something they may have to cope with for their entire lives. I’m wondering if their brain being damaged could lead to further depression because they have to overcome more?
Popular shows such as 13 Reasons Why is bringing more attention to suicide attempts done by cutting, I’d be interested about more statistics and research pertaining to the attempts made in present media that is impacting mostly the younger generation. What are your opinions towards these attempts getting attention, and how might it impact someone who is considering suicide?
I think that 13 Reasons Why helped get attention to the topic of suicide. However, in my opinion, it was too mainstream and popular. For one, people began twisting the message it meant to give out by making it a meme about sensitivity. Moreover, it really only highlighted the seemingly stereotypical way of taking ones own life. This draws some attention from the fact that there are other, less popular ways that need attention and prevention. As such, carbon monoxide poisoning is very prevalent and needs more attention.
In terms of this interview, I’m not too sure the questions where stimulating enough to derive a complicated answer expected of someone with a degree of that importance. It also seemed as if the interviewer had not prepared beforehand to know the basics of this topic which led to basic and simple questions.
Some of the statements couldn’t be further from the truth. The lateral ventricles in the brain are responsible for regrowing new neurons, so no it’s not impossible. There are also many new emerging treatments that support the growth of new neurons. Please do some more research and explore these option before saying there are none. 🙁
Although this was an interesting read, I don’t think the interview flowed very well. It was difficult for me, as the reader, to keep up with. I think this would’ve been a better interview if the interviewer led Mr. Wenk with his/her questions and then flowed into the different topics he talked about in this interview.
Though the original article was a very useful read, the interviewer’s questions were dull. A preferred method would have been to have leading questions, where the interviewee will have a chance to provide open-ended answers; this way, the interview would have added to the article, and provided further insight.
I thought the original article was very interesting, but the interviewers questions were boring an uninformative. It seems like the answers were lazy and lacking clarity. It would have been more enjoyable if the questions attempted to clarify what the interviewee was saying. As others have mentioned, I found the focus on carbon monoxide surprising. I think a further anecdotal example of the brain effects of another drug would have been more helpful in understanding the mechanism behind brain chemistry changes. For example, is there an increased amount of a particular neurotransmitter in a particular region of the brain following suicide? Is there any brain changes associated with other methods of suicide? I also feel like some of the statements are so vague that they are incorrect.
Overall this was a good article but I think the answers to the questions were rather uninformative. Also, the title is slightly misleading. I expected this article to be applicable to all types of suicide attempts or at least more than just CO poisoning.
This article was not what I expected. The title is extremely misleading. I expected to learn about a biological or psychological stand point of how suicide affects the brain in general. For instance, I believe it was going to discuss about a change in processing information or brain structure.
The author has a very interesting topic, the only problem was that he/she did not narrowed it down. It was too broad. Like Wenk mentioned in the interview that there are several factors that need to be considered as to how suicide can affect the brain i.e. age, method, health, etc.