Is Sylvia Plath to blame for her son's death?

I'm getting an idea for a new book. If some one writes it before I do, I won't be upset. The idea of the book is things you can do to make your suicide worthwhile. I'm sure you can come up with some ideas, eg., how about running into a burning building to see if you can rescue someone. Try to rob some gangbangers. Kill yourself in public for a cause or to protest against something. Be a hero when the odds are extremely high against your survival.

I've known a lot of suicides. When the mind is made up, it's almost innevitable. My brother-in-saw shot himself in the chest. It didn't kill him. He had a bitch for a wife and two wonderful kids. Now the fact that he was a great dad who loved his young children, and he didn't die from shooting himself, that was not enough to stop him. He reloaded his shotgun (that must have been extremely difficult), and shot himself again to finish the job. Some of the people I know that killed themselves didn't give off any clues that they had decided their fate. If you can't stop them, maybe they can help save another life or get a message across with some helpful ideas. And if you see anyone reading this book in earnest, they may be sending a signal that could lead to some intervention.

There are people you pass every single day that plaster a smile on their face and yet are clinically depressed.

Depression has several theories of causation. Genetics, lack of being taught coping skills for hard times,circumstances for which they see " No Way Out". As a Hospice Nurse, we have had many and I believe there were three reasons. 1. They were ill either mentally or physically and could no longer face family giving up their lives to care for them. 2. Fear of a horrible death filled with pain, 3. Emtional pain and scars passed on from dysfunctional parents who were very selfish and did not put the welfare of their children above their own.I choose not to judge these people anymore.It used to seem like the last and most selfish act of someone.

I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional family sitation. My mother was beautiful and seemed to be unable to 'make up her mind and was married 3 times. Unfortunately the first(My real father) was too young, the second was an abusive man and the third was a skirt chaser. Once the last marriage ended, she became a functional alcoholic. It amazed me how she could drink so much and yet still be bright and fresh at work the next day.Working a government job at that.

My brother never resolved all this in his mind and took to drugs to ease his pain. I simply made a decision as a young girl, " No way am I living like this when I get married and became successful in both personal relationships and career choice to help others. My life gave me a lot of empathy for animals and people (my mother gave away our beloved two dogs to strangers as a surprise one day because we didn't take good care of them! I can still see my brother at the window sobbing and begging to get them back to no avail.

I have had a few episodes of therapy, strived to be the "perfect" parent (which I found out there is no such thing. But I think my faith in God, humanity and helping others rather than focusing on my childhood was the key. This poor woman, its hard to judge and it really is unfathomalble to look into those loving and dependent on you for everything-eyes and then carry out her plan. I do think and know of many who wound out doing the same. Look at the Great Hemingway family....several committed suicide- Freddie Mac Executive....it is truly a disease where people see ""no way out" and feel that others would be better off without them. Very sad because most are really loved and have broken hearts forever. I used to say it was the ultimate shelfish act...part of me still believes that.

it is a very sad and ,I hate to say it, but selfish act. Sometimes the pain (emotional,psychological) can be soooo bad that people don't know how else to make it stop. What stops most people is the thought of what it does to those left behind.

i am. i am. i am.

Very cruel to openly blame poor, deceased Sylvia. There was probably some correlation, but more nature than nurture.

it seems obvious that there are genetic pre-dispostions..not to say that individual wills cannot overcome,but patterns arise.....

to add i believe that depression is genetic and can span through a whole family sometimes. my uncle killed himself and my mother i believe is by-polar along with my grandmother and myself. i think its a genetic chemical embalance, not just coincidence or the plain reaction to others suicide/death around us.

^ I agree. I was pretty into Sylvia Plath before I wrote a research paper on her for my English final. After reading her biographies, The Bell Jar, and doing extensive online research.... I don't really like her anymore. She's an interesting writer, but not such a great person.

I've dealt with depression and anxiety my whole life, so I can sympathize with her on that, but I just can't understand how she could be so selfish. If you research her enough, you'll find plenty of evidence to back up the idea that she was, quite frankly, a selfish, whiny, crybaby. I can't think of any other way to put it.

We can argue that she was insane all we want, but would we argue as much for a murderer? At least she wasn't hurting anyone but herself, directly...

For a parent to end their life is truly tragic. I think if people are at the end, and just cannot fathom another day of existence, that is their choice, as it was Sylvia Plath's.

Although, that parent is robbing their children of their lifeline, sealing their fates of sadness as they grow up. I understand depression as an emotion and an illness, but what a selfish final act, abandoning your children.

There is so much to live for everyday, especially with the joy of a child. :)

I am ever the optimist regarding my personal matters, and though I understand the aspects of manic depression, admittedly I really don't grasp how someone can be so dissolute about living that they make (rational in their mind) a choice to end their own life by their own volition....it is sad that many good and intelligent people make that final decision. Sadly, over the years I have lost a few good friends in that fashion, and they are missed to this day by family and friends.

I am persuaded that the vast majority of depressions are biological in nature, though quite often the biological state is induced by psychological trauma of some kind. But I doubt that we will see the kind of certainty most of us would like to see in this area for at least another 20 years...and perhaps much longer than that.

I am also persuaded that the percentage of all people who suffer the horrors of depression would "choose" to do so. They are not given a choice in the matter. And I would frankly be VERY surprised if Mr. Hughes did not inherit a biological predisposition toward depression from his mother (and possibly from his father as well). Somehow, some way and sometime (but not any time real soon) we will stop seeing this general tendency in our society to blame the victims of depression for their condition. They are not "weak-minded" nor are they "running away from their problems." In fact, if there is a poster "child" for depression, it is Mike Wallace, the long-time journalist whose most recent fame comes from the television news program "60 minutes." His titanic struggles with depression are well documented. Yet I would defy someone to find a person whose will and tenacity are STRONGER than those of Mr. Wallace. His is the TRUE face of depression. Few groups of people are as worthy of our compassion and understanding.

Everyone is accountable for their own actions. This guy was obviously successful in terms of career. I for one grew up in a dysfunctional home, but didn't follow in the footsteps that some of my brother's did, doing drugs and committing crime. I chose to separate myself, sought out God, and went on to become a civil engineer, then a project manager and a video photographer. It doesn't stop there, by His Grace, I have become active in mentoring, active in my church and community and still be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

When things go wrong, most people try to put the blame on something else, rather than looking inward.

tragic but with proper pharmacology or maybe some weed this may have been avoided. there is undeniably a link between genetics and mental illness. however her son living to 47 had a chance to live his own life and make his own decisions. I'm sure depression was a factor steming from his mothers abandonment of him but he had the opportunity to get help pharmacological psycological or other I don't think it's anyones fault it's just a sad fact of life that people get tired of the news, the world and just want an end to their pain, emotional or otherwise.