What is Digg?141 Comments
- hearingvoices, on 11/07/2007, -0/+61I'll comment on this. Actually, I signed up for this comment (long time Digg reader... not poster).
I went to school with her through high school (whether or not you believe that I don't really care). Beautiful, talented girl. You know... she was maybe the one person I never remember hearing anyone say anything bad about. Smart, the orchestra piano player, nice, funny.
She was the measure of success everyone in our year judged "success" as. I mean... how many anchorwomen do you know? We saw her on TV every night.
We've been following this pretty closely. Apparently she changed depression meds recently and was acting erratically since then. Also, there was a decision at the TV station that she worked at to centralize news broadcasts... meaning that she was uprooted from her home in Western Australia to a place about 4000km away. We've had a few suicides in our school year, but none sadder than this.
See you Charmaine... I hope you're having a better time up there. You deserve the best, and I wish you could have seen how good you had it. Unfortunately the best among us are also the harshest self critics. :( - jamesspelt, on 11/07/2007, -5/+49How unfortunate... the banner ad shows someone base jumping off a cliff.
- Humptydank, on 11/11/2007, -0/+38Just so it's on the thread:
For people who may be concerned that they or someone they care about is thinking of suicide or feeling symptoms of depression, a national suicide hotline number in the United States is 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) or 1-800-273-TALK. You can also go to http://www.suicidehotlines.com for specific lists by state, and a discussion on what to expect when you call.
I'll ask that you Digg this up if you're so inclined, and maybe people in other countries could post follow-ups with lines in their countries.
Thanks. - LoveWidescreen, on 11/11/2007, -1/+35Holy sh*t. If you think it's as simple as talking to a shrink, you've obviously never had to deal with someone with depression. Depression runs in my family, but thankfully it skipped me and one of my sisters. Unfortunately, three of my nieces have been diagnosed with it and from what my sister has told me the depths that you fall into when you have a bad bout of depression are staggering. You feel completely alone; you feel like there is no one in the world to talk to; you feel completely numb to the point that the simplistic beauty of a sunrise or a butterfly on a warm day mean nothing. When you're in that kind of state, talking to a total stranger is the farthest thing from your mind.
What's worse, this is usually the case when someone with depression is alone. Most people with depression appear to be completely normal and cheerful when they're with others. But once they're alone, that's when it really hits hard. My sister wouldn't have even known about her one daughter's depression if her boyfriend hadn't said something because she hid is so well from the rest of the family.
I would almost say that you should experience it yourself so that you can obliterate your ignorance of the topic, but wishing depression on someone is something that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. Unfortunately, I now have to be on the lookout to make sure that none of my kids show signs of it. - LordSeth, on 11/07/2007, -1/+25Depression can effect anyone whether you have nothing or everything. Its tragic that she had so much and yet could not find a measure of happiness.
- WiseWeasel, on 11/07/2007, -2/+24You walk to the edge and keep going?
- inactive, on 11/06/2007, -0/+20A YouTube tribute to Charmaine Dragun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igGX0eaI1HQ
There is supposed to be a bunch of stuff on MySpace going crazy with this too. Post a comment with any MySpace tributes you find. - Flashman, on 11/11/2007, -0/+19In Australia:
For help you can contact Lifeline: 131 114;
Kids Help Line: 1800 551 800 or visit http://www.beyondblue.org.au. - HUKI365, on 11/08/2007, -5/+24Holy Crap, is this Australian news on Digg's front page? WESTERN Australian news?
- supermanred, on 11/11/2007, -1/+20When I visited, it was a Quantas ad at the top it said "Where would YOU like to land?"
Maybe time to revise that contextual advertising algorithm a bit... - bluesnowmonkey, on 11/11/2007, -0/+17It's not just the pretty ones. A thousand other people committed suicide the same day, but we're talking about Charmaine Dragun because she was pretty and famous.
- rompom7, on 11/07/2007, -3/+16I'm Australian and found 'over' a cliff odd too.
- WiseWeasel, on 11/07/2007, -19/+32Diggers, start your conspiracy theory engines! If we try hard enough, I'm sure this can be traced back to Bush...
- passedoutghost, on 11/07/2007, -3/+14Not to you maybe. But here in AUSTRALIA everyone pretty much had seen her at least once. Famous is subjective in nature. What people consider famous in their country might not be known to you.
- BossKey, on 11/07/2007, -2/+11We can think of one more...
- fluidfoundation, on 11/06/2007, -5/+14Learn2Reply
- MaxPayne3476, on 11/08/2007, -1/+10hahaha mine was a Quantas ad that said "Getting Away is that Easy!"
- rmmcclay, on 11/06/2007, -0/+8Photo of the Gap....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianlloyd/29799492/ - ojk007, on 11/08/2007, -1/+9contextual advertising at its best
- aussieNickuss, on 11/06/2007, -1/+9She wasn't famous like Brad Pitt is "famous". She was famous in that just about any Australian who has watched channel ten news at any point in their life probably knows her by name or at least recognizes her photo. She was the Perth newsreader but she frequently filled in for the regular newsreaders on the national broadcast. I remember her well from the 10.30pm time slot, here in Victoria.
- LoveWidescreen, on 11/06/2007, -0/+8Not if she doesn't recognize that she has depression. It's easy for us sit back in retrospect and say, "Why didn't she get help?" When someone is in severe bouts of depression, they don't even realize that they need help or else they feel that there is nothing that can be done about it. Obviously, you've never dealt with anyone who has felt depressed to the point of being suicidal. I, however, have three nieces, a nephew, and two sisters who have various bouts of depression, some near to the point of suicide, some not. I can only hope that you never have to deal with it. The isolation is such that you can't comprehend it if you're not clinically depressed.
- MaxPayne3476, on 11/06/2007, -0/+8what? Taken it in the car, took it to the morgue. Performed the autopsy yourself then given her a proper burial?
That's awfully sweet of you. - goosnargh, on 11/06/2007, -0/+7QANTAS
- Humptydank, on 11/06/2007, -0/+7And even if she realized she has depression, the disease itself can remove the faith you have in anything, including treatment.
The common "black hole" analogies are apt -- you imperceptibly pass this event horizon after which nothing has any impact on your faith in getting out. That's why you need to go to a doctor the minute you sense signs of depression. Depressive feelings are like the chest pains of a heart condition, a major warning sign, and every day you wait you are increasing the risk you won't survive a full-blown attack.
So if you're reading this thread and feeling anything that you might consider depressive feelings, call the first doctor on your list tomorrow morning and tell them that you need a referral to a psychiatrist or a psycho-pharmacologist. You wouldn't wait to go to the allergist if you allergies, so don't wait now that you may have something that can kill you. - supermanred, on 11/06/2007, -1/+8Ive been treating with Marijuana and Whiskey for years, seems to keep me in check.
- opticwind, on 11/07/2007, -1/+7Yes, the Gap has taken many victims.
- pantyfarmer, on 11/07/2007, -0/+6According to a news report she was in between depression medications. Most of these medicines (SSRIs) can put people at great risk for suicide when you are cutting down on the dosage. You can have suicidal thoughts during this medication tapering period even if you have never had thoughts of suicide before. Just google SSRI withdrawal symptoms for more information. I almost commited suicide when I was trying to get off of paxil 2 years ago. I never even thought of suicide until I was trying to get off of it, and haven't thought about it since.
- Spartan900, on 11/07/2007, -1/+7Sometimes even treatment does not guarantee freedom from depression. A high profile Australian, Renee Rivken was quite public about his battle with depression and ongoing treatment, but also sadly took his own life.
- inactive, on 11/07/2007, -10/+16What was eating at her? Lot's of vague allusions to maladjustment to Sidney, theories about the pressures on young stars to succeed...
Didn't she realize that psychotherapy was an ok option? Hiding the feelings is disastrous. - juicebox12, on 11/06/2007, -0/+5I live about 2min walk from the Gap. When I'm at home, I sometimes hear emergency services vehicles scream past, up to 5 a week (most I;ve heard thusfar). Sure enough, when I take my dog for a walk at the park right next to the Gap (Christison), there's often a police chopper doing the rounds or a police dinghy searching the water. It's pretty sad, but when it all boils down to it, I adopt the stance that it's better someone with massive emotional/mental issues that's considering suicide takes their own life, instead of these feelings becoming a vicious internal struggle that could be taken out on someone else, or even a group of people.
Now, don't misinterpret that as me saying 'everyone who is depressed should kill themselves' because that's not what I'm getting at. However, in the tragic circumstances whereupon someone is irreversibly corrupted by an internal (metaphysical) force, and they don't seek any means of countering this (ie. blatant refusal, even anti-intervention), I think the trade of one life by will of one's own is more morally appraisable than such feelings being manifested and translated into negative action upon another individual or a group of others. - inactive, on 11/06/2007, -0/+5Nothing prevents depression controlling your life more than ending it I suppose. How tragic.
- peranadigital, on 11/07/2007, -0/+4I suggest steering clear of discussion about this is on the web. There are a whole lot of people that are doing their best to make a joke of it without considering the impact of those jokes on the people closey affected.
She was one of precious few people on tv that actually made me smile. It really surprised me how much this got to meand I never even met her, can't imagine being close to her and stumbling across the idiotic comments that I've read. - vwvan, on 11/07/2007, -2/+6Depression is treatable with sSRI's. Unfortunately they have to be titrated slowly up or down over a long period of supervision to be safe. They actually make symptoms of anxiety and depression worse initially. Then brain cells downregulate the number of serotonin "receivers" it expresses and equilibrium ensues. Takes about a month. We are just beginning to understand this. A small change up or down makes a difference. Then when everything is ok, people say to themselves, "This drug isn't doing anything", and they stop it. Discomfort and disaster rapidly ensue, with a half-life of 3 days. We had a cardiologist here who made a million a year take his own life with depression. It has nothing to do with money, self-image, or self-esteem. Depression is a significant neurological phenomenon. the brain "back-reasons" cause and effect relationships that "must have caused it", when in fact is it purely chemical and often heriditary.
- frieddonuts, on 11/06/2007, -1/+5I like good dark humor as much as anyone but that was kind of tasteless.
- Spartan900, on 11/07/2007, -0/+4If only she could think straight like you? Please dont ever consider being a therapist, you have the empathy of a rock. Try going through trauma or mental illness and "think straight". I suppose your advice to someone suffering depression would be to "cheer up".
- Kleptoz, on 11/06/2007, -0/+4Images of Charmaine Dragun
http://famousprofiles.tripod.com/sitebuilderconten ...
http://famousprofiles.tripod.com/sitebuilderconten ...
and the cliff she jumped off
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianlloyd/29799492/
May she finally rest in peace - man3ster, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3thats ***** gross man. its a corpse.
- theone3, on 11/06/2007, -3/+6http://sixpop.com/images/file/44693239.png
- sathias, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3Ironically, one of Rivkin's staff was arrested for allegedly throwing a young woman off the same spot Charmaine jumped from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Byrne_case - yfguitarist, on 11/07/2007, -0/+3Agreed. I get tired of reading posts from people that mock depressed, suicidal people because they "have everything". Obviously they've never heard that money doesn't buy happiness.
- Flashman, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3What's the deal with the URL? It redirects straight from http://www.joelmackey.com/entertainment/celebritie ... to http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22703991-2,00 ...
- FatBird19, on 11/07/2007, -1/+4"determined not to allow [depression] to control her"
sounds like it got what it wanted.... - potofgravy, on 11/07/2007, -1/+3Are you sure about that? I had never heard of her. Maybe a capitalised "PERTH" would've been more appropriate.
- groo68, on 11/06/2007, -1/+3Technically you would jump while you are over a cliff and when in the air fall near the cliff, so i think it would be jumping over a cliff, the question being if you jump to another part of close by land or fall far down.
- skyshock1, on 11/08/2007, -3/+5Oh man, that is an absolutely HORRIBLE way to go.
- HUKI365, on 11/06/2007, -1/+3Rivkin was a low down scumbag fruadster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Rivkin - EmileVictor, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2(It's an acronym, so stop trying to phonetically spell it. It stands for the Queensland and Northern Territory Airline Service)
- inactive, on 11/07/2007, -0/+2I guess you answered my question, but I'd rather not experience that myself in order to truly understand it.
- supermajic, on 11/06/2007, -1/+3Oh... a MySpace tribute, I can only imagine..
"omg so sad :( !!11! put this animated rose gif on your space so she is remembered!"
... which 10000 people who know absolutely nothing about her will do for one whole day before it ceases being cool to do so. - hearingvoices, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2She was only on the news within specific areas of Australia. Within those areas she was well known.
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