Societal Opposition to Self-Death

[Post Tenebrae Morte]

Anyone else find it most perplexing as to why, in this era of advanced values and technology, we still oppose the right for others to take their lives?
Over 7 billion people on this planet, some wishing to die, others wishing to rest, but both clamoring for the same goal: rest. Is it truly so illogical as wanting to finally close your eyes for good? To not suffer anymore?

Yet, we have people who call this act abhorrent or selfish, when they fail to acknowledge just what precipitated the feelings. They are afraid of losing someone or seeing one stop existing, yet they don't take into account how the afflicted feel and what they deserve, what rights they have to ending their own life.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Pre-face: I am a Registered Nurse who've worked for 4 years in a ward for affective illnesses, that is depression, bipolarity, personality disorders etc..

No, I don't find it perplexing at all. About half of the people who attempt suicide but fail and are hospitalized in this city end up on our ward and receive treatment for depressions, life crisis, bipolar disorder or some other form of illness that impairs cognition and lowers your mood. We also receive a lot of patients who are contemplating suicide but are yet to make an attempt. In more than 95 out of 100 cases we manage to treat these people and get them back to their daily life without them having to commit suicide as "a way out".

The truth is that most suicides are committed while suffering from some form of mental disorder (most usually depression) and that the mental disorder can be treated if help is sought. The person contemplating suicide can find joy and meaning in life again if they get the proper health and support. To me it is perplexing that we think this is alright, that seriously ill people should be allowed to commit suicide instead of encouraging them to seek support, help and treatment for their problems.

There are times when suicide is a viable alternative, terminal illness being the most obvious, but they are few and far between and most suicides today aren't committed by people in those situations. No, suicides are committed by otherwise healthy people who suffer a crisis or an illness that makes them unable to think straight. That's why they need help, not encouragement to take their own lives.

 

[JoJo]

I'm not necessarily opposed to suicide if the decision made in an informed manner by a mentally competent person, after-all we don't consent to being brought into existence so is it really fair to force someone to keep existing against their will? This especially applies when someone is terminally ill and faces only pain for the rest of life.

However it's undeniable that people often commit suicide in the wrong frame of mind, because of temporary problems or depression and other mental illnesses, and that's a real loss. It's very common when people try to take their own lives through a method takes a while, such as popping a bunch of pills, that they then change their mind and call for medical assistance, showing that people don't tend to be sure about this final decision.

 

[Kolby Jack]

Pre-face: I am a Registered Nurse who've worked for 4 years in a ward for affective illnesses, that is depression, bipolarity, personality disorders etc..

No, I don't find it perplexing at all. About half of the people who attempt suicide but fail and are hospitalized in this city end up on our ward and receive treatment for depressions, life crisis, bipolar disorder or some other form of illness that impairs cognition and lowers your mood. We also receive a lot of patients who are contemplating suicide but are yet to make an attempt. In more than 95 out of 100 cases we manage to treat these people and get them back to their daily life without them having to commit suicide as "a way out".

The truth is that most suicides are committed while suffering from some form of mental disorder (most usually depression) and that the mental disorder can be treated if help is sought. The person contemplating suicide can find joy and meaning in life again if they get the proper health and support. To me it is perplexing that we think this is alright, that seriously ill people should be allowed to commit suicide instead of encouraging them to seek support, help and treatment for their problems.

There are times when suicide is a viable alternative, terminal illness being the most obvious, but they are few and far between and most suicides today aren't committed by people in those situations. No, suicides are committed by otherwise healthy people who suffer a crisis or an illness that makes them unable to think straight. That's why they need help, not encouragement to take their own lives.

And here I was ready to rant that exact same point. Bravo.

Most suicides aren't made by people thinking clearly. Many who are prevented from killing themselves end up thanking the person who stopped them. I agree that the right to end your own life IS yours, but it's obviously a final decision and people should do all they can to keep you from doing it, because if someone really, TRULY wants nothing more than to die, it's next to impossible to stop them.

 

[Thaluikhain]

When Australia tightened gun controls in the mid 90s, there was a big drop in the number of suicides with firearms, without a corresponding increase in the number of suicides by other methods.

Having a gun means you can kill yourself with a moment's notice, takes almost no time or effort. Many people are only that committed to going through with it, and would live if it was just a little more difficult.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Pre-face: I am a Registered Nurse who've worked for 4 years in a ward for affective illnesses, that is depression, bipolarity, personality disorders etc..

No, I don't find it perplexing at all. About half of the people who attempt suicide but fail and are hospitalized in this city end up on our ward and receive treatment for depressions, life crisis, bipolar disorder or some other form of illness that impairs cognition and lowers your mood. We also receive a lot of patients who are contemplating suicide but are yet to make an attempt. In more than 95 out of 100 cases we manage to treat these people and get them back to their daily life without them having to commit suicide as "a way out".

The truth is that most suicides are committed while suffering from some form of mental disorder (most usually depression) and that the mental disorder can be treated if help is sought. The person contemplating suicide can find joy and meaning in life again if they get the proper health and support. To me it is perplexing that we think this is alright, that seriously ill people should be allowed to commit suicide instead of encouraging them to seek support, help and treatment for their problems.

There are times when suicide is a viable alternative, terminal illness being the most obvious, but they are few and far between and most suicides today aren't committed by people in those situations. No, suicides are committed by otherwise healthy people who suffer a crisis or an illness that makes them unable to think straight. That's why they need help, not encouragement to take their own lives.

This. Most suicide survivors never try to do it again you know. My mother attempted suicide in her teens, but now shes 60. It might seem logical to just end it when you dont want to live but we are still animals with survival instincts and it takes some seriously messed up mental processes to overcome that hardwired instinct. Plus theres always someone who will mourn you, watching all the people who are upset at the loss of that person just shows me how they had it so wrong, they were loved, they were wanted, they werent doing their loved ones 'a favor' they died because of temporary and changeable circumstances that got the better of them and thats absoloutely as tragic as if they got hit by a bus.

 

[Queen Michael]

This reminds me of a manga I read years ago, where there were suicide booths you could go into whenever you felt like it.

Now, I have to agree that suicide's a person's right. We're going to die anyway, so we should have the prerogative of choosing when it happens. With that said, obviously people should be stopped from impulsive decisions on the matter.

 

[Something Amyss]

When Australia tightened gun controls in the mid 90s, there was a big drop in the number of suicides with firearms, without a corresponding increase in the number of suicides by other methods.

Having a gun means you can kill yourself with a moment's notice, takes almost no time or effort. Many people are only that committed to going through with it, and would live if it was just a little more difficult.

I actually wonder why more of the MRAs I encounter aren't for gun control. They often cite the whole "men commit suicide more often" as an argument for how bad men have it, but the fact is one of the big factors in suicide rates in the US (because really, who else matters? Just us all the way) is availability of firearms and the disparity in it as a method for killing one's self. Since access to firearms is a major factor, you'd think this'd lead to gun control advocacy.

Or not.

OT: Life tends to value life. Even when we rationalise it away. People don't understand what it's like to want to die, so they dismiss it. Of course, understanding it wouldn't necessarily change opinions in most cases. Killing yourself because of a depressive state isn't really a good thing.

I mean, I support bodily autonomy and self-determination, but killing yourself while suffering from depression is like signing a contract when you're drunk. It's a bad idea.

 

[Something Amyss]

This reminds me of a manga I read years ago, where there were suicide booths you could go into whenever you felt like it.

Did this manga involve a delivery guy, a mutant, and alcoholic robots?

 

[carnex]

People pretty much have said anything I would say beside this

According to someone from suicide prevention centre in Belgrade, Serbia, significant portion of the people who they prevent from reaching for suicide as a solution actually just keep being miserable piles of goalless flesh and bone. She felt like she is helping society keep churning on, not helping people save themselves. She walked from the job obviously, she was volunteer anyway.

 

[Starbird]

Anyone else find it most perplexing as to why, in this era of advanced values and technology, we still oppose the right for others to take their lives?
Over 7 billion people on this planet, some wishing to die, others wishing to rest, but both clamoring for the same goal: rest. Is it truly so illogical as wanting to finally close your eyes for good? To not suffer anymore?

Yet, we have people who call this act abhorrent or selfish, when they fail to acknowledge just what precipitated the feelings. They are afraid of losing someone or seeing one stop existing, yet they don't take into account how the afflicted feel and what they deserve, what rights they have to ending their own life.

It's...a very tricky one. I have lived in Japan for almost 10 years and the view of suicide here tends to be a bit different than the rest of the world.

Still, I think that the opposition to this 'right' is mostly well-intentioned. A lot (I'd say the majority) of suicidal people are acting out of either impulse or some sort of chemical or hormonal imbalance, and can be helped with either counselling, medication or simply waiting until things improve.

That said, it's not an absolute opposition at all. There are obviously exceptional cases where it should be permitted.

That's the key word. Permitted. It should never be encouraged.

 

[Pinkamena]

Is self-death the nice word to call suicide now? Also FYI, I think your life is yours to do what you wish to do with it, and that includes ending it.

 

[Exterminas]

No state has the ability to deny people the right to kill themselves. Because no state has the ability to punish a dead person.

What most states are doing is creating psychological and legal barriers to enlisting the help of other people, like trained medical professionals, to kill yourself.

Overall I think this is a wise policy, because as already has been mentioned, a lot of suicidal people suffer from treatable mental illnesses.

Now, if we are exclusively talking about people who suffer from terminal conditions and wish to end their physical suffering, then that is something else. I agree that it should be easier to off yourself if you are suffering from a terminal disease.

But overall I agree that it is a good thing that we have not yet reached Futurama-Levels where Suicide-Booths are posted on every corner. That would probably be a little too extreme.

 

[Godhead]

Well if you're talking about Physician assisted suicide for people that have terminal illnesses, I think a lot of the opposition either from evangelicals or from physician's who believe that assisted suicide is in direct opposition to the Hippocratic oath.

As for people just wanting to die, I think a large part of the opposition is that people view them as taking a drastic measure to end a problem that could be solved through means other than death.

 

[Saltyk]

Look trying to end your life when you would merely be prolonging pain and suffering is something I support. It's not hard to understand a person who has been grievously injured asking another to end their life so they don't have to suffer. It's not hard to understand a person with cancer which can't be treated asking to end their life.

Though I can understand why some may not support that. Hell, I'm not certain I could end a person's life even in an effort to save them that suffering. Killing a person is not something that normal people can do with little ill effect, regardless of the circumstances.

But simply ending your life because you want to end it is bull shit. Generally speaking a person making that decision is not in a healthy state of mind. They are depressed or simply dealing with a very bad situation. They need help and understanding, not a bullet in the brain.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

 

[Queen Michael]

This reminds me of a manga I read years ago, where there were suicide booths you could go into whenever you felt like it.

Did this manga involve a delivery guy, a mutant, and alcoholic robots?

Haha, nope, I watched the one with that motley crew years after I read the manga.

 

[Malpraxis]

Very basically: Ending your life for some reason other than having a terminal illness or untreatable pain is sign of a mental illness. You are not in your right state of mind, so you cannot make that call.

On the other side, not letting terminal people die in a painless and dignified way is ridiculous and barbaric. Self termination should be done assisted by professionals in a warm environment, where you can do it gradually and painlessly. Sadly, in most of the world this is illegal. I guess you have to watch a loved one die in excruciating pain to understand.

 

[Ryallen]

Everyone I've talked to has had the same feelings towards suicide, and frankly, I agree with them: suicide is the coward's way out. Do I think that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem? Yes. Do I think that people who are suicidal are usually mentally unstable and desperately need help? Of course I do. Do I still look down on those who end up doing so? This is where it gets controversial, but yes. I cannot stand when people kill themselves, because what they do not only affects them, but everyone around them, plunging them into inconsolable sadness for a very short but very intense time, and keeping them to some degree of sadness for a very long time afterwards, if not permanently. When you kill yourself, and you have people who care about you, it is literally the most selfish thing to do, as it leaves them with an immense amount of guilt over not being able to help you, or not being trustworthy enough to allow them to help you.

My friend accidentally told someone to kill themselves by mistake and didn't realize what he had done to him until after the fact, simply because he was never informed that his now deceased friend was suicidal. It still haunts him to this day, and it sickens me that someone would do that to everyone they care about.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I'm all for putting to rest someone with a horribly painful disease that will only get worse and worse until they die, if they so wish it, as long as it is in a controlled and informed environment.

But to me it sounds like you're including people with mental issues, which is a horrible idea and doing it on a whim, which is a horrible idea. We'd have 1 in 5 teenagers offing themselves off purely because of teenage angst, and people offing themselves because they got rejected or dumped.

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

Rational people don´t kill themselves. If you are having suicidal thoughts something is wrong with the wiring in your thinks and it is up to medical professionals to do their best to attempt to fix this problem and up to family and friends to support you through a possibly hard recovery process. No different than any other medical problem.