Alexis Lawless
David Lester’s Suicide Talk
November 20, 2012
On Tuesday, November 13th, I attended a talk given by Professor David Lester. I obtained extra credit in my Statistical Methods class for being present. Professor Lester is also my Abnormal Psychology teacher. He is famous for his research on suicide. This event was held in Alton Auditorium. Professor Lester is a very interesting guy in class, and I didn’t know much about his research and books, so I thought it would be a good idea to go. It was definitely worth my while.
This was a one-time event and it was held for the sole purpose of David Lester talking about suicide, the signs, how to prevent it, and an explanation of why he has not figured out the reasoning behind it yet. He has examined people’s diaries, both famous and everyday people, and discovered many similarities between the suicidal ones. He used machines to process what people frequently said and felt throughout the diaries. I didn’t know that a machine like this existed before this.
Thankfully, I never lost a family member or friend to suicide. David Lester made it clear that if anyone ever did, then he or she should never blame themselves for not seeing the signs. Weeks before a person even commits suicide, they could be happy-go-lucky day and night. Luckily, Professor Lester was able to get his hands on diaries of his students’ siblings to diagnose, along with famous people’s, to try to get a better understanding about why anyone would want to do this to himself or herself. He does believe that if he were to find an answer, it would simply be an individual case study and could never generalize the whole suicidal population.
Before his speech was over, David Lester gave us the number of a suicidal hotline. I never had to call this number, but I think it was very thoughtful that he gave this out to us. I am personally not suicidal, but if I ever know somebody who is in the future, I will not hesitate to call. I believe this talk was very informative and I’m glad I attended. I learned much about suicide and that it’s not a new problem in the world, and certainly will not be cured in the near future.