How is death a good option?

[Vsha93]

Sorry if i hurt anyones feelings but I just have to ask. How come when life is hard or miserable people do suicide to get out of it? Im not going to say "is your life really that bad" or anything because I will never know the situation unless im in your shoes, but how is something so unknown to you a comfort. Why not look at alternative to your situation, why not ask for help? How do you know if after death its not worse than your life right now?  

[Taeryyn]

Obviously when people are thinking of suicide, it's because they are unable to see any worthwhile alternatives. (Regarding those who commit suicide out of despair/hopelessness. I won't get into the other reasons for the moment.)

When you feel that trapped, that suffocated...everything seems bleak. It's hard to even think straight, let alone objectively consider alternatives. When you think about the future, it's almost impossible to imagine things being better. You become convinced that the only thing the future holds is more bullshit.
The very reason one might be extremely depressed could be that one feels like they have no control over their life, and no other options. You just want to stop feeling so horrible. It's not that you want to die, exactly, it's that you just can't cope. And if living means coping, then...

Asking for help is easier to say than to do. What if you don't have anyone you trust? Even if you do, how do you tell a friend you want to kill yourself? For one thing, they might think you're crazy or just looking for attention, and second of all, that's a horrible situation to put them in, especially if you do end up going through with it. It's a lot to put on someone else.
As for health professionals, you worry about what they'll do. Will they admit you to a hospital against your will? Tell your family? Assuming there are any resources at all. And for those in the US, there's the expense.
Even here in Canada, it can be really ******** hard to get any sort of treatment for mental health problems. Seeing someone for an hour once a month may not be very helpful, especially when someone's in crisis.

How do you know that the after-life isn't worse? Well, you're assuming that the individual even believes in such a thing. If you're an atheist, obviously you're not worried about "after death". Even if you believe in some kind of after-life, after awhile it becomes easy enough to convince yourself that it's worth a chance anyway. Assuming the individual is evening thinking clearly enough for such things...

Anyway, whatever. That's just my knowledge of it. I'm pretty sure that each person's suicidal reasonings are as different as the individuals themselves. I'm not trying to say that suicide is a good option, I'm just explaining how it might feel.

TWLOHA is a ******** joke, by the way.  

[Kreashion]

It never is. There's always a way you can make your life better when it's that bad - people you can talk to and what not. Those people just choose not to and are lazy in their dying moments.

 

[Yvaine]

Suicide is generally considered a symptom of a mental disorder. By its very nature, I'd say that makes it not in any way subject to things like "making sense".

The only suicide I've ever run across that made any sense to me was people who jumped from the World Trade Center before it collapsed - but then again, that was probably a large number of mentally healthy people who decided an exponentially slim chance of surviving the fall was better than being crushed in the debris or burning to death. Hence, not actually suicide in the strictest definition.

If you talk to anyone who's suicidal (genuinely), and you manage to actually get them to be frank and open and honest, you will invariably find a VERY skewed perspective on life. The worst case I ever ran across kept trying to kill herself because she couldn't take the complete lack of certainty inherent in living - she figured death was better than not knowing what would come next. Not even with the possibility (which she did acknowledge, wryly) of it being something nice.  

[Vsha93]

I understand what everyone is saying though I still can't wrap my mind around it. I gues I have to experiece that situation to really understand it.  

[AlcoholicPancake]

I know that in the US, some ( If not all ) hospitals will allows a terminally ill patient to request an overdose ( assisted suicide pretty much ) that will kill them so they don't need to live through the suffering.

That's basically all I have on this subject, unless you want to hear me start making jokes about it.

( I'm a heartless b*****d, I know, but it's just an easy topic for me to joke about )  

[Thaliat Everwood]

Hm...Well, if I ever become terminally ill and the last months are going to be physically painful, then I would rather take my own life and get it over with. Not only would it resolve my suffering but it would lower the medical bills left behind to my family. Hey, if I'm going to die in a short time frame anyway, I'm going to do it on my terms.

Here's another thought: If it was the option between burning to death or starvation or drowning and there is no way out, a quick bullet to the brain would be a lot more preferable to me. Less suffering is optimal.

In those situations, taking my own life seems preferable.

Now, if it were for depression, I can understand the mindset having been close to it before, although now I'd say it is not the best choice. To the more stable minded it doesn't make sense, and looking back at how I was thinking then, it scares me to have been that close to the edge. Rationality gets severely skewed and actions get more desperate. But the severely depressed don't recognize the change in their perception of reality. That's why their actions are considered a cry for help, they aren't able to ask for help themselves because their would view is so abysmal and desperate.

I suppose a lot of the choice about taking one's own life depends on one's view of what happens after death. Some people already have a good idea of what they believe awaits them after death and actually look forward to it. To them it is not an unknown. I suppose that is what makes the choice so much easier for them. Right or not, it really is their choice to make in the end because the individual is the only one capable of living their own life.  

[Lolwut77]

Vsha93

Sorry if i hurt anyones feelings but I just have to ask. How come when life is hard or miserable people do suicide to get out of it? Im not going to say "is your life really that bad" or anything because I will never know the situation unless im in your shoes, but how is something so unknown to you a comfort. Why not look at alternative to your situation, why not ask for help? How do you know if after death its not worse than your life right now?

Because people are idiots.  

[pickle relish]

As someone who has seriously considered suicide once myself, I have to say it has nothing to do with being lazy, or an idiot. Part of the reason I wanted to commit suicide was because I felt alone, and didn't have anyone to talk to and keep me steady.
And talking to people, especially strangers, about your problems? Not that easy. I still can't do it. I don't tell anyone the things that bother me.

As for after death...I imagine most people who commit suicide are either atheists, or have lost faith in their god, since committing suicide is a sin in most religions. If you believe that there is nothing after life, then perhaps oblivion is preferable to a horrible life.  

[Cevadeva]

People who consider suicide can't see another option to death. And since they don't tell anyone about what they're going through it's much harder for them "to see the light" by themselves. Other times, people think that they are doing the World a favor by taking their own life, even though the World doesn't see it that way. There could be other reasons, but those are the ones that I know of.

And if I repeated someone else I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm saying this because I remember reading something similar to the first part of my post.  

[SuchSweetSadism]

pickle relish

As someone who has seriously considered suicide once myself, I have to say it has nothing to do with being lazy, or an idiot.

So far so good.

pickle relish

Part of the reason I wanted to commit suicide was because I felt alone, and didn't have anyone to talk to and keep me steady.
And talking to people, especially strangers, about your problems? Not that easy. I still can't do it. I don't tell anyone the things that bother me.

Right right. It definitely can be difficult.

pickle relish

As for after death...I imagine most people who commit suicide are either atheists,

Erm. People who usually commit suice, are teens, regardless of religion, ethnicity, sexuality. Oppressed (typical oppression occurs under political or religious tyranny) or suffering immensely, like a terminally ill patient.

pickle relish

or have lost faith in their god, since committing suicide is a sin in most religions.

you don't need to lose faith to obtain despair. Sins and laws also don't necessairly avert crimes.

pickle relish

If you believe that there is nothing after life, then perhaps oblivion is preferable to a horrible life.

3nodding
My opinion there, hardly differs.  

[Phaeton 2]

If we wanna point out religion, It's an awkward position to create. Things will get better in the afterlife. Okay, if they do, who cares about the here and now? /lifequit

Suicide became a sin to keep people from taking the easy way out. Whether it really was an easy way out or actually kept people in line can be thought about. Religion is a social charter, but certainly not the definitive social rule.

Anyway, sometimes it's not so much feeling excessively bleak and hopeless. Some might feel desperate to keep something from others. Hitler committed suicide to avoid having to face his enemies in defeat (We all saw what the people did to Mussolini.), and ordered his HQ and gains destroyed. Okay, that's a fairly uncommon case. None the less depression and suffering aren't always a motivator, the base idea there is probably feeling that there is no escape.

Are suicide bombers depressed and hopeless? Not necessarily. They could be the most driven people.

Another example, I don't know if the figures have changed significantly, but most suicide victims were actually older men, widowers who couldn't see life continuing without their wives. I don't know if it was grief or fear, but something made them just not want to go on.