Suicide

[nailit]

following on from the Robbin Williams affair.
Is it selfish to commit suicide?
Or is it more selfish of you to condemn someone for wanting to end their anguish?

[royfromaus]

I take it you haven't been reading the Robbin Williams threads, nailit?

The vast majority of posters do not think it is selfish to commit suicide.

[black_cat51]

or are too frightened of condemnation to say

[Elina]

It's more a desperate act nailit, a person who has reached that point doesn't stop to think of the suffering they cause.

[kvalidir]

It's not selfish to commit suicide, but it is a tragedy and usually unnecessary, however when people feel that bleak they are not thinking normally so they often cannot see how they will be missed and how loved they are. It is therefore imho 100% wrong for people who are not feeling that bleak and have never felt that bleak to chuck about glib opinions about it.

[boxtops]

I think you need to wade through the other threads, nailit - there's been a lot of discussion on several of them today.

[royfromaus]

True, black_cat51

[rockyracoon]

I have very mixed feelings about suicide, selfish or not, I really don't know. What I do think is selfish is the way the deceased lets a member of their family or a friend find them in sometimes horrendous circumstances, I couldn't imagine the pain a mother, father, daughter etc must go through after finding the aftermath, it must be a living hell.

[black_cat51]

kval, unless those glib opinions are that it's not selfish. Then its perfectly ok not to have felt so desperate and have an opinion

[woofgang]

I don't think its a choice. I think that people get to a place where they can see no other option. So no, I don't think its selfish because a thing can only be selfish when you make a choice.

I don't think that condemning someone who commits suicide is necessarily selfish either. Understandable if you know and love the person, thoughtless if you are expressing an opinion about someone you don't know.

[Boru62]

Hasn't everyone felt that desperate? Aren't we all sometimes close to the edge?

[woofgang]

no Boru, not in my experience.

[Henrietta]

From what iv'e read recently on the net it appears that it seems that suicide ISN'T selfish when it's a friend/family member/a friend of a friend/or someone in your community online or in real life /a celebrity or politician you love but IS selfish when it's a celebrity/politician/or someone in your community online or in real life/someone famous you dislike which is human nature i guess.

[237SJ]

I don`t think it is selfish because the person who decides to commit suicide isn`t usually in a fit state of mind to think of other people. For example, my friend`s mother came to visit her and one day when my friend came home from picking the kids up from school, she found her mother hanging from the banisters. No rational person would have done that to their daughter. I do think it`s selfish when people threaten suicide as a way of attention seeking or manipulation though.

[boxtops]

Have you read this one, nailit? http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1358009.html

[Boru62]

Cheers woofgang, you've made my day ;-)

[Henrietta]

Iv'e had 3 friends come back from the brink of suicide who told me that with one of them the only thing after their relationship crumbled they lost their job and they developed a bleak painful look on life with things only getting getting worse they developed powerful feelings of hate to the ones they used to love. They said during those (almost) final hours they only saw bad memories from ones they used to love so gave everyone the 2 fingers and a final metaphoric ***k you before they pulled the plug and jumped in front of the train but he miraculously survived with many broken bones, fractured spine and cuts and bruises but made a full recovery and went on to find love again, a career and went on to have kids.
To this day he doesn't know how his thoughts become so twisted he attempted it and also why his vision of the future grew so dark and why he learned to hate everyone he loved.

Just as the brain apparently releases the chemical dmt in the brain to make death more easier just before death it would seem that the brain possibly through chemical imbalances or some other dark tricks/forces the brain into releasing chemicals to maybe distort ones vision and thinking before suicide?

Is that even possible?

[Henrietta]

I forgot the other 2 friends i mentioned whose brains and vision went exactly like the first friend seeing the future as a dark deadly and evil place but in both cases they were brought back from the brink after not being able to do this to their family member friends and kids so never went through with it.

Both friends as the other went on to lead happy productive lives and once again never understood their reasons for feeling so terrible they had to end their lives.

In all 3 friends it proves that you do think long and hard of your loved ones before you want to kill yourself but they had different outcomes so this proves nothing and we'll never know if those that actually succeed feel that ***k you attitude to lessen their pain just before they go.

It really is a mystery and will forever remain one i guess.

[jno]

anyone who thinks suicides are selfish should read this

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/selfless-son-paid-off-debts-and-called-his-mother-before-train-suicide-9665482.html

[Oiverbotel]

Suicide is a permanent response to a temporary problem.
Is it selfish? It depends on whether you have the loving support of family and friends who clearly understand why you might wish to terminate your life. If you fail to share your views and thoughts, you may very well condemn those who love(d) you to a lifetime of suffering and despair. Is that what you would wish upon those whom you profess to love and respect? Would you wish them to suffer for the rest of their lives? Or, would your actions evoke anger and rage over your selfishness? Would they see your act as the ultimate betrayal? I'm sure there are more rhetorical questions one must entertain. However, the raw truth is that such an act is a finite response. And is there anything in this world that cannot change? (except, perhaps the mess in the Middle East!).
It's most likely advisable to consider how you see it, how they see it, and the way it really is. In that instance you may discover that small fragment of light that leads to the revelations you seek.

Ollie

[nailit]

just a rehetorical question, thanks guys.