As suicide rates climb faster than ever this topic has become a global problem. Suicide is considered one of the top leading causes of death in the US with a suicide occurring every eleven minutes. Japan even has its own suicide forest where many will go to take their life.
In discussions about suicide, the idea that suicide is a decision and a selfish thing to do comes up. This idea stems from the fact that death affects all those around us, by choosing to cause a death (even your own), people will mourn. This mourning is painful for many so people believe since you caused this death to happen you are hurting others. I think this idea comes up so frequently because its very easy to forget why suicides happen as the people mourning are consumed by grief and are looking for something or someone to blame.
This notion that suicide is a choice is simply insane to me, individuals driven to the point of suicide do not want to be in that position. They would do anything not to be in that position. This is exactly why they commit suicide. People driven to this point believe life will be better if they do this very thing. Depression is not a choice, depressed people are not choosing to be depressed, depression is just something that happens to affect certain people sometimes and there’s only so much we can do.
Realizing that suicide is always a last resort is so important. When it gets to the point of suicide people need to realize how far that is, how hopeless and gone the people in this position feel. Instead of villainizing these poor individuals we need to learn how to empathize with them.
Suicide is a horrible result of years of built up hopelessness and sadness that can not be controlled. Although we can do our best to help those around us dealing with these heavy emotions sometimes we can not save them. In fact some people believe suicide is the only way they can be saved. It may seem immediately out of the question for the average person but unfortunately mental illness affects people so deeply they no longer think “normally”.
Guilt is something these people carry with themselves everyday regardless of what people say. Calling the action of suicide selfish just makes the situation worse. These people already feel horrible about life, why must we disrespect them after they have passed. We never truly know everything about what a person may be going through. We don’t know how many times they might have stopped themselves from doing the very action in order to not hurt others. We can not judge others for something we do not understand.
Obviously suicide is not a good thing and shouldn’t be treated like one but it is so important that we empathize with those who have unfortunately taken their life. These are people who unfortunately saw no other way to cope with the emotions they felt. All we can do is try our best to be there for those who need it.
If you or a loved one are feeling suicidal- there is help:
Stanislaus County Crisis Line: (888) 376-6246, Option 4
Stanislaus County Community Services Response Team: (209) 558-4600
National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988