Regardless of the assessment of Stachura's final work, there is no doubt that he was afflicted during that time with mental disturbances. In April 1979 he suffered a mysterious train accident: he refused to step away from the railroad track along which he was walking, despite the fact that he saw an approaching train. He suffered concussion and lost most of his right hand. After a period of hospitalization in a psychiatric ward (which he requested), Stachura returned to his mother in Aleksandrów Kujawski. He taught himself to write with his left hand and described his experiences before, during, and after the accident in a deeply moving journal, later published under the title "Pogodzić się ze światem" ("To Come to Terms with the World"). He continued writing in the journal until just four days before his death. Stachura took his own life in his Warsaw apartment on 24 July 1979, leaving behind his final poem: "List do pozostałych" ("A Letter to the Remaining")