Suicide

So often it becomes a taboo subject. People don't understand it. They want to change the subject, make the person think of something else, deny the thoughts involved. When in reality being realistic about how you feel is the only way to deal with a problem. I came across this earlier online, as the subject has obviously been on my mind the last couple of months. 

jazzonia:

doctorconquest:

chelsea-smiles:

-earlyeyes:

chelsea-smiles:

i know this is meant to be funny and a joke but in my opinion suicide really is selfish. i’m not denying that depression is a terrible, soul-wrenching disorder that can tear people apart. that does not mean that suicide is not selfish. it is the easy, quick way out; it leaves your loved ones alone and to grieve over someone who left way before their time.

The point of this meme is to mock those that are privileged, yet deny others rights.
In this case, mocking those who say “suicide is selfish.”

saying suicide is selfish isn’t denying rights of others. it’s an opinion.

No. Saying suicide is selfish is not an opinion, it is incorrect. Saying suicide is selfish is no more of an opinion than saying clouds are made out of marshmallow. It is not a matter of opinion—it is simply incorrect. It is incorrect because the belief that suicide is selfish stems from the belief that suicide is a conscious choice, which is also incorrect. Suicide is not a choice, it is the result of pain exceeding resources for coping with pain. Suicide is no more a choice than dying of heart failure. When the heart endures more stress than it can handle, it gives out. When the mind endures more stress than it can handle, it gives out. Suicide is no more “selfish” than dying of heart failure.

Imagine you are having weights piled on top of you, one after the other. Eventually, no matter how strong you are, no matter how much stamina you have, you will give out and collapse under the weight. Does this make you selfish? No. It is simply that you have had more weights piled on you than you have the resources to hold. Suicide is the same. No matter how strong you are, no matter how much stamina you have, you will give out if the pain exceeds the resources for coping with pain. Suicide is the result of this.

You say that suicide is “easy”. This is also incorrect. Death is not easy. If you found out you were going to die tomorrow, would you be pleased because you are getting an “easy” way out of life? No. Nobody wants to die. People who attempt or complete suicide do so not because they would rather not go on living, but because they have no other way to escape unbearable pain. Attempting suicide is not “easy”. People who attempt suicide do so knowing that either outcome of their attempt is something that they do not want: if the suicide is completed, they will die. If the sucide is not completed, they will have even more pain added on to their already unbearable pain by facing potential physical damage and the stigma and isolation of being labelled as weak. Of being labelled as “selfish”.

You say suicide is “quick”. This is also incorrect. Nevermind that the suicide itself may be slow and agonisingly painful, depending on the available method—suicide means death, and death is not quick, it is forever. Destroying a computer that isn’t working is not the “quick” way of fixing a computer. Someone’s heart stopping beating is not the “easy, quick way out” of heart disease. Suicide is not a “quick way out”, it is the result of more pain than available resources for coping with pain.

You assume that all people who attempt or complete suicide have the coping resource of “loved ones”. This is not true. Even in cases where people with suicidal thoughts have people who care about them, they may not be receiving any support or help with their pain, because of the stigma and ignorance that surrounds suicide. Consider this: someone you love tells you they are having suicidal thoughts. You tell them that their thoughts make them selfish, as this is your “opinion”. Your loved one now believes that they are burdening you by being selfish. Your loved one now feels that they would be less of a burden to you if they were dead, even knowing that it might upset you. Your loved one’s likelihood of attempting suicide has increased.

If you are actually interested in learning about suicide and suicidal depression, I recommend the book Out of the Nightmare: Recovery from Depression and Suicidal Pain by David L. Conroy, or visiting this website, which quotes it and links to many other resources. If you are not actually interested in learning about suicide, then I recommend you refrain from sharing your uninformed “opinions” on death and mental illness, as you are doing indescribable harm to countless people with your ignorance.

“Suicide is neither wrong nor right; it is not a defect of character; it is morally neutral. It is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping resources.”

Absolutely perfect commentary.

^ please read this. A thorough and articulate takedown of the stigmatizing “suicide is selfish” myth. One of the best I’ve seen.
http://taniada.tumblr.com/post/1616895190/jazzonia-doctorconquest-chelsea-smiles