What are your thoughts on suicide?

One time after her divorce and during an ongoing conflict with her daughter, my daughter "causally" mentioned a suicidal ideation. That got my attention, and I kept in close contact with her. She suffered from degenerative discs in her neck, a result of being thrown from a horse when she was a teen. As such, she tended to self-medicate(alcohol) along with prescription pain meds. As a consequence, she had extremely high blood pressure for quite a few years, which ultimately led to a brain bleed, which took her life 3 years ago. I can't help but think that in some way she may have wanted to be shed of physical and emotional pain, and that her death was, for her, a welcome relief.
 
for those in incredible pain or terminal a way to end and not linger would be a relief.

I often think some are doing it in front of us and we do not see it .....people with severe substance issues risking each time might be an overdose or such.
 

In one of the other threads, the question of suicide came up. That questioned seemed to awaken a lot of replies.
What are your thoughts on suicide?

There is no easy answer to this question.

For example, someone in the latter stages of an illness such as cancer, someone in great pain with no hope of recovery, is different from someone whose circumstances and depression push them to the ult8imate act.

Thus, assisted suicide is humane in some circumstances, but not others.

There are many ways to end ones life, without the introduction of state approved methods. No-one can stop an individual from a drug overdose, or jumping from a building. Suicide is there for all of us, but most of us choose not to follow that path.

In cases where disease and physical pain are inevitable, I can see choosing to end ones life is legitimate. When it comes to mental illness, I'm less certain. Suicide can be a shared experience of understanding, and it can be am act that leaves destruction in its act.

No blanket answer then.
 
for those in incredible pain or terminal a way to end and not linger would be a relief.

I often think some are doing it in front of us and we do not see it .....people with severe substance issues risking each time might be an overdose or such.
Every time I read about a "middle of the night, one car fatal incident, where the car drove directly into a bridge abutment"> I think...Suicide driver.
 
In Pennsylvania, we average over 2000 suicides per year and the last paper I receive stated that our numbers of suicides have risen for the last 10 straight years. The number of murders has not yet been released for 2024.
 


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