What are your thoughts on suicide?

I used to ponder this issue a lot. I think for me, suicide was a fantasy exit plan, in case things got too awful. But when I thought it all thru, I had to admit to myself I could never do painful violence to myself so the only method had to be pills. Well, I don't even know the proper kind of pills and dosage that would work. I read a few books on the subject, but it all seems almost as difficult as living. Ergo, I am in this for the long haul.
 
I am afraid that dwelling on the subject of suicide will lead me spilling down into depression.
Instead I try to think and read positive things like those expressed in the following poem by Robert Service;
Each Day A Life

I count each day a little life,
With birth and death complete;
I cloister it from care and strife
And keep it sane and sweet.

With eager eyes I greet the morn,
Exultant as a boy,
Knowing that I am newly born
To wonder and to joy.

And when the sunset splendours wane
And ripe for rest am I,
Knowing that I will live again,
Exultantly I die.

O that all Life were but a Day
Sunny and sweet and sane!
And that at Even I might say:
"I sleep to wake again."
 

I find it incredibly sad and heartbreaking that for some people life is too difficult for them to stay. None of us know what other people have survived and what they are going through. I was a social worker for four years working with children that were abused, and the things I saw were horrible . I imagine some of them did not survive.
 
I don't think people who choose suicide should be slammed as "selfish." I see this type of comment a lot online.

People who get to the point of killing themselves often are in too much emotional pain to think clearly (i.e., about the effects of their death on loved ones). They simply want the pain to stop, and often they genuinely believe the world is better off without them.
 
I've fought with this several times and even had to be brought back after dying for a few seconds. Been in several psych wards after. Doing better after years of therapy but it comes back sometimes like recently. Being treated for stage four throat cancer, doctors wanted to give me tramadol for pain during the chemo and radiation treatment. Soon as I got the pills I had an urge to swallow them. Mindfulness kicked in and I threw them away and let the health team know, under no circumstances was I to be given opioids for pain during cancer treatment. Having this disorder is terrible at times, which is why I keep to myself and keep my feelings in check... neutral.
 
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For myself? It would be the option of last resort that I would do......if I was so infirm, so incurably and terminally ill, unable to take care of myself.
There's no one to look after me and I won't tolerate wasting away in a nursing home. I'd have arranged for the logistics of my estate and my body's cremation and burial and I would not make a mess in my own home.
I'll take my chances with the consequences of it in the afterlife.
 
Suicide isn’t a one-size-fits-all decision. Every person who takes their own life has their own story, their own reasons, and their own pain. Some may act in a moment of despair, while others may have endured years of unbearable suffering. I'm not God, and I don't pretend to understand what someone else is carrying. So I won’t condemn those who’ve made that choice because in some cases, it may truly have felt like the only escape from a pain-filled existence. We can mourn the loss, wish there had been another way, and still respect the complexity of what drove them there.
 
As an RN on a psych ward, I sometimes asked patients if they wanted to kill themselves. I used to think that if I was going to commit suicide, I wouldn't admit it to the people, who could stop me from doing that. I remember the first time, I got a "yes". There was something about the "yes" that I knew he crossed the line from thinking about it to giving himself permission to do it. His "yes" told me he was determined to commit suicide.
 
And now for the view from somebody with ten years of experience, dealing with suicides of all types. I spent ten years working for the largest EMS service in Canada, here in Toronto. I estimate that I personally attended over 300 suicides, in those ten years. About 30 a year. To put that figure into proper perspective, Toronto has a population of about 3 million people.

In my personal opinion, suicide is THE most selfish act a human can commit. The dead person leaves all of the rest of the people in their life abandoned, to try to cope with the death. The dead person ceases to exist, but everyone else now has to carry the burden of that death. That is selfish.

How people kill them selves , is a very wide spectrum. In general, in my personal experience, women "Attempt suicide more frequently than men do, but men do it more effectively, than women do ".

Ways. Men tend to use more physically violent means, such as hanging, gun shot, or jumping from a bridge, while women tend to opt for less damaging methods, such as overdose of pills plus alcohol, or tying a plastic bag around their head. Some people act impulsively, in a hurry, Others plan things, like assembling enough pills, or having a specific date that means something to them, like a wedding anniversary, or the day that a friend killed themselves in the past.

Toronto has an extensive underground transit subway system, with 114 kilometers of tracks. Subway jumpers are a regular event here. My Ambulance partner Randy and I covered 7 subway stations from our station, so we knew that there was all ways the chance of being sent to one of those situations. Jumpers tend to act "first thing in the Morning " after being up all night, planning it. Timing is important, stepping off the platform, just as the train comes out of the tunnel, means the first car hits them in mid air. Dead. Bad timing results in an injured but living patient, who may very well be wrapped up around the axle of the front car of the train.

The first thing that happens is the power to the third tail is cut by the Transit Control room. An Ambulance is dispatched, along with transit supervisors and Toronto Police. Removing the person is done by the Ambulance crew, either to a trauma center, or to the city morgue facility.

Toronto spent over a million dollars, to add an "anti suicide safety railing " to one of the most popular bridge jumping spots in the city. The jumpers simply moved elsewhere, to kill them selves. JIM.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I’m ok with it for me but not so much for others.

It’s heartbreaking when young people feel that suicide is the only solution to something like bullying or sexting.

I’m ok with it for people in the final stages of life.

My concern would be getting it right and not ending up in a far worse situation.
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Here in Toronto there is a special medical care facility called West Park Hospital. It is a medical rehabilitation center. Three years ago, I fell and broke my left tibia. After a few weeks in Mount Sinai Hospital I was sent to West Park to learn how to walk again. I learned that three East at West Park was the home for a large number of "failed suicides" who had tried to kill themselves, in various ways, but failed to do so. More than 40 of them.

Subway jumpers, bridge jumpers, hangings that didn't work out, brain damage by gun shot wound, burned in a self set house fire. Now facing a life long existence as either a quad or a para in an electric wheel chair. Medical marijuana is freely available, with lots of other opioids as well. How do you motivate a 21 year old like that ? I have no idea, but as a society, Canada has an obligation to care for them, and see that they are not ignored. So much wasted possibilities.

JIM.
 
jimintoronto said:
Here in Toronto there is a special medical care facility called West Park Hospital. It is a medical rehabilitation center. Three years ago, I fell and broke my left tibia. After a few weeks in Mount Sinai Hospital I was sent to West Park to learn how to walk again. I learned that three East at West Park was the home for a large number of "failed suicides" who had tried to kill themselves, in various ways, but failed to do so. More than 40 of them.

Subway jumpers, bridge jumpers, hangings that didn't work out, brain damage by gun shot wound, burned in a self set house fire. Now facing a life long existence as either a quad or a para in an electric wheel chair. Medical marijuana is freely available, with lots of other opioids as well. How do you motivate a 21 year old like that ? I have no idea, but as a society, Canada has an obligation to care for them, and see that they are not ignored. So much wasted possibilities.

JIM.
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The moral of the story is that, if you decide to exit, make sure you have a good plan to execute the exit successfully.
 
On one hand, if someone is in that much pain, perhaps that is the only escape they see. I have a grandson who made a half a*s attempt one time, but he is on the border suicidal. His life has been so hard for reasons beyond his control...from mental health and physical health issues to other heartbreaking circumstances since he was little. I feel for him and try to help as much as I can.

On the other hand, I think suicide is selfish. It causes tremendous pain and probably guilt for the loved ones left behind. could they have helped more, done better by their loved one? Why didnt they see the signs and get them help? As you can see, I'm on the fence (personally), but as Muslim, we are taught that suicide is one of the worst sins.
 
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