"If I'm HIV Positive, I'll Commit Suicide!" (Don't!)

From his HIV diagnosis in 1985 until his death in April of 2009, Cass Mann was one of the world's longest-term HIV-positive survivors. He founded Positively Healthy, the UK's only HIV/AIDS charity staffed exclusively by openly gay men, which provided HIV services including education, support, and peer counselling. These videos now archive his wisdom and insight for future generations. Here he talks about how people sometimes feel suicidal when they think they're about to test HIV positive or have tested HIV positive, and why suicide makes no sense. A person who is diagnosed HIV positive today can with intelligence expect to live a full lifespan with a good quality of life so long as they follow medical advice and take care of their health and nutrition. People who commit suicide after an HIV positive diagnosis probably already had other serious issues in their life other than HIV. There were many gay men with AIDS who committed suicide during the "first wave" of AIDS in the 1980s. Anyone who contemplates suicide today after an HIV diagnosis hasn't examined all their options intelligently and coherently. There are various forms of suicide. One is when you take your own life by a specific act of commission. But those forms are rarer than "long-term suicide," a suicide that occurs over months or years that happens when you stop caring whether you live or die, and you take on behaviors that will result in your death but over a longer term. They're still acts of commission, but they're less dramatic. They take longer, but the result is the same, and you are still responsible for your suicide. That's a very painful suicide because it takes so much longer. A lot of the gay men Cass has known who committed suicide lacked a network or support system to catch them when they needed it. No one knows they're alive, so no one notices when they die, and that's dangerous. Gay men should get a support network in place at the outset so that they have it when they need it. You want to have people in place who you can share concerns with if you feel depressed, suicidal etc. Drugs, depression, and isolation all increase the risk of suicide. People have "deathstyles" that replace "lifestyles." People suffering from depression or suicidal feelings need immediate treatment. For more information, visit http://www.AIDSvideos.org/. This video is freely downloadable from http://www.archive.org/details/ifITestHivPositiveImGoingToCommitSuicidedont . [Do you want to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS? Are you fluent in a language other than English? Then volunteer to translate our videos into other languages! Click http://AIDSvideos.org/translate.shtml to to learn how you can help!!! © Copyright 2008-2011 Global Lifeworks. All rights reserved. This work is licensed to be used for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.]

Category:

Education

Tags:

• HIV
• AIDS
• suicide
• depression
• support
• network
• slow
• recreational
• drug
• use
• gay
• MSM
• deathstyles
• lifestyles
• cass
• mann
• positive

[thecommercialedge]

I'm so afraid that I've become HIVpositive...I've had suicide thoughts..and I go for my 3 month test in December.. I feel so useless.. and like such a horrible person.

[AIDSvideos]

@thecommercialedge: Relax. You're doing the right thing by getting tested. There's a good chance that you'll turn out to be HIV-. Even if you turn out to be HIV+, that's not the end of your life. You're not a horrible person. Believe me, you're not the only person to think they may have been exposed to HIV! You can do wonderful things in life. You have a purpose -- just find it! Good luck.

[kilikhan1]

@AIDSvideos fuck you, you know nothing about the fuckign virus unless you actaually get infedcted and see how fucked up life really is.

[AIDSvideos]

@kilikhan1: Couple of points to keep in mind: (1) User AIDSvideos = Eric, not Cass Mann. Cass Mann was HIV+ and knows of what he speaks. He was HIV+ for 34 years and had a long, happy, healthy, and fulfilling life in which he helped countless others. Other HIV+ people have the chance to do likewise. (2) User AIDSvideos = Eric is HIV- and not claiming to have any personal understanding of the experience of being HIV+.

[placenciaify]

I try to kill myself over a girl that wouldn't go out with me I'm I crazy

[AIDSvideos]

@placenciaify: Don't try to kill yourself! Over a girl that wouldn't go out with you, or over any other reason! See the suicide prevention advice on this YouTube channel profile page.

[Imademonlol]

were?

[LabRat6619]

We live a horendously selfish society in Britain. Its depressive because our society if bankrupt, incapable of feeling for others unless they are paid!

[AnaisEngland]

@LabRat6619 Why should one care whether or not the "others" one cares about are paid?

[Leijonasisu]

I admire your courage.

[MandJshow101]

I think it's great that people are like "Yeah! I'm not gonna kill myself! WHOOO!" I think it's awesome that people are finally getting to see that EVERYONE is beautiful, and special and AMAZING in your own AWESOME way!!

Yeah, I know sometimes life really sucks! but we only live once so we should live right.

[MrAUFANATIC]

I'm negative and will wear jimmy hats but idk why im watching this

[iMakeSexWithYourMom]

My life sucks, why am i even here? nobody cares about me, i just annoy everybody im around, people call me heartless because i no longer care about peoples feelings but im like that because thats how people treat me.

[SASNIGHTCRAWLER]

My life is shitter than any bastard here, and im not killing myself because of a depression created by a sociel pressure or a family effect, because thats all it is. Fuck society, fuck people, if you dont like it, fuck off. I would hang on screaming until my last breath, and i have done,,,,,i wouldnt care if i was in agony i can get shit for that(T-shirt) If my brain turned into mush, i wouldnt really care then, in fact, fuck it, i wouldnt even know about it would i? Dont be a fkn dick. Live!