Severe mental illness and suicide

[Josiah]

This is a heavy duty topic which I suggest you avoid if you're not in the mood for it.


I have noticed that, in the time since Robin Williams killed himself, there have been many articles and discussions that portray suicide as the natural, inevitable, and sometimes even appropriate outcome in people who have struggled for many years with severe depression. This is certainly not the conventional wisdom about suidcide which is that every effort should always be made to prevent a person from taking his or her own life. I will concur with conventional wisdom in the case of a young person, but if we're talking about a person who has endured many years of the living hell that severe mental illness can impose, and who has repeatedly failed to benefit from the therapies and medications available, I wonder if we are not denying this person the very important right to escape the extreme misery of his or her existence. I know many will argue that by legitimizing suicide we will only be encouraging people who might be helped to make a fatal decision. This argument is certainly legitimate as are other arguments for not changing society's attitude towards suicide. But still I feel accutely uncomfortable about (in effect) saying to every mental illness victim "you must continue to suffer your daily mental agony until you die of natural causes."

 

[Warrigal]

My husband suffered from extreme anxiety and depression for a decade. During that time he attempted suicide but failed. One day, the depression lifted and hasn't returned.

While there is life there is hope, even if we don't always see it.

 

[oakapple]

What DW has said is true. However, I don't think that it would put any person off suicide if they are determined to do it.I mean the question of if not being legal.Either a person can live with something or they can't, and we should never be judge and jury on that.I know several people who have done this [we probably all do]it's tragic.I think society has moved on from the times when it was considered a huge shame upon a family.

 

[Josiah]

I'm not even suggesting changing any laws, just more of an acceptance by society that this may be an acceptable solution. To add to the anguish and agony of a person considering suicide the thought that by exercising this option he or she will be ruining the life of friends and family . . . .that he or she is acting in a selfish manner just doesn't seem helpful.

 

[Vivjen]

Yes; I consider suicide to be both selfish and courageous......especially when mental illness is a factor.
i agree that the misery for the people left behind is incalculable; but I can also see how people can think that it will be better for other people if they are not around..

 

[Butterfly]

"but if we're talking about a person who has endured many years of the living hell that severe mental illness can impose, and who has repeatedly failed to benefit from the therapies and medications available, I wonder if we are not denying this person the very important right to escape the extreme misery of his or her existence."

How are we denying the person the "right"? I don't understand what you are trying to say here. Most folks who are determined to commit suicide find a way to do it.

If you are saying we should not stigmatize the relatives/friends of a suicide, then I agree. Otherwise I don't understand your point.

 

[Josiah]

"but if we're talking about a person who has endured many years of the living hell that severe mental illness can impose, and who has repeatedly failed to benefit from the therapies and medications available, I wonder if we are not denying this person the very important right to escape the extreme misery of his or her existence."

How are we denying the person the "right"? I don't understand what you are trying to say here. Most folks who are determined to commit suicide find a way to do it.

If you are saying we should not stigmatize the relatives/friends of a suicide, then I agree. Otherwise I don't understand your point.

I'm using the expression denying rights here to mean casting so much social opprobrium on the act of suicide that the suffering person is constrained by considering the act he or she is contemplating to be immoral. I tend to associate with the word 'right' the notion of 'free exercise there of'.

 

[oakapple]

I think it all depends on the country and the culture. In the US, it may be less acceptable if this happens say, in the bible belt, than in New York.Here, it may be more difficult in a village than in a town.There will alwyas be somebody that frowns upon the family, sadly that's human nature, but I do think that society [Western society] as a whole is more accepting nowadays.

 

[Kitties]

I've never known anyone close to me who committed suicide. I've known people who had family do so and I know it's devastating to them. Years ago in the early 80's an acquaintance who was friends with a friend of mine killed himself by gunshot. They printed his suicide note for his funeral. It was one of the saddest things I had ever read. I didn't attend the funeral, my friend did. I didn't know him well enough. He blamed no one but stated his years of struggling with severe depression and everything he had tried to make his life better. I believe he was medically and clinically depressed and probably would have benefited from the anti depressants that are out now.

I've suffered some depression. I think a lot of mine has been situational. To have this constant must be devastating.