Living Without Hope Can Be Fatal.

[Theland]

Dad was a P.O.W. with the Japanese for three and a half years.
Kuala Lumpur, Changi Gaol and the infamous Burma Railway.
Beaten, starved and worked many to death.
He told me how he saw many who could lie down and die at will, having given up all hope.
Dad weighed five and a half stone when freed.
What kept him alive was stubbornness, hatred of the enemy, and just a tiny bit of hope that one day, somehow ............
He lived because he had hope.
So many people today live in a paradise compared to what Dad endured, yet mental illness and suicides are so prevalent because so many have no hope.
What are your comments on the value of hope, and the danger of a life without it?

[tonyav]

Ohhhhh yes of course. She he didn't have flat feet then ;-)

[Ellipsis]

Theland, have you come across Viktor Frankl? The founder of logotherapy - literally "healing through meaning".

In Man’s Search for Meaning, his testament of his time in Auschwitz, Frankl details his theory on the record high death rate in Auschwitz during Christmas 1944 to New Year's 1945: that prisoners died because they had expected to be home before Christmas. When they realised this was not to be they completely lost hope in life beyond the concentration camp.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

[Mozz71]

This is a thread clearly dealing with something very close to Theland's heart. Can we do him, and indeed his late father, the respect and honour to not derail it with talk of that orange nincompoop.

[naomi24]

Given that the majority of prisoners in Auschwitz were Jews, who for obvious reasons don’t celebrate Christmas, that’s a very odd theory. Ellipsis.

[Ellipsis]

He was also a Jew, of course, he was there and he wrote the book. Perhaps if you've read the book you can criticise it.

[naomi24]

I'm not criticising it - I haven't read it so I'm not in a position to criticise it. I simply think it's an odd thing to say. Hanukkah would have made more sense.

[Mamyalynne]

I do think that hope is a life raft when we are going through tough times, as said if we didn't have it to cling to we'd fall far sooner.

[archibaldy]

I can see how hope is better than despair in a situation like your Dad's or a serious medical or life situation where there is literally nothing one can do about it. However in most life situations there are things one can do, and hope is not a strategy.

Of course imagine preferred outcome from a situation, that's positivity, but I think that hoping alone is too passive and very often can lead to greater misery when hopes are dashed or don't come to fruition in the hoped for timeframe.

Better than hope for mental health in my opinion is acceptance of a situation and taking positive action to improve it if possible.

[Theland]

Thanks for very interesting posts.
The men were beaten and punched on an almost daily basis.
My father's worst beating was by a Japanese sergeant who was holding of all things, a golf club.
He began by ruffling the end of the club through Dads hair li!e a naughty schoolboy, all the while working himself into a frenzy of anger, then the beating began. Dad has scars on his back for the rest of his life. He swore to kill the sergeant.
The plan was simple.
Hit the sergeant between the shoulder blades with one of the pickaxes they used. One blow, one dead sergeant. Certain death for Dad, who was beyond caring.
Then, incredibly, soon after, a few Red Cross parcels got through. A two year old letter from Dads sister, Theresa.
Dads perspective changed. He was reminded of home, family, a life beyond the prison camps.
It gave him hope. He won through and lived.
He lived, others continued to lie down and die.
I only wish I were a mere fraction of of what Dad was, but I have never had his strength.

[Theland]

As an addendum to this story, I am often moved today, by news of people who continue to show such similar strength of character through and following adversity, rebuilding traumatised lives, or living to the full what little or diminished quality of life they have left.
The common denominator is, it seems to me hope, which is an entirely different concept to ambition, to rise to a challenge, which is linked somehow, but entirely different.
Those of you with experience of, or an interest in psychology are most welcome to offer your comments on this, as of course I also link hope to my faith, in fact it is my faith, but not just faith in the future, but in the here and now, although I sometimes lose sight of this myself, as my recent descent into depression proved so graphically.
Sorry for rambling on.
Time to put the jesters hat on again :-)

[naomi24]

Another thought similar to archibaldy’s. Can ‘hope’ be detrimental to well-being? For example, are the sick who put their faith in God rather than medicine to heal making an effort to help themselves or are they depending upon a hope that is very likely futile?

[iluvmargie]

Your poor, dear Dad. What he went through ..

[Theland]

And thousands like him in all wars Margie, and our soldiers today are still risking all for our freedoms.