03-28-2011, 01:58 PM
(03-28-2011, 09:56 AM)Solidify Wrote: Suicide is a desperate act by someone who is in intense pain and wants their pain to stop. That is a HUMAN response to extreme pain, not a selfish one.
Saying that a person who had severe clinical depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or a similar illness was engaging in an act of selfishness when they died by suicide is not only inaccurate, but downright cruel, to both the deceased and suicide survivors.
People such are yourself that use the word “selfish” are merely helping perpetuate the disbelief associated with suicide.
A suicidal action that manifests from intense, excruciating, unbearable pain associated with a serious mental illness has nothing to do with selfishness. Period. It frustrates me when I hear people making such comments, especially when they're oblivious to the facts at hands. Think about what you're going to say before you say it.
I'm not saying the reason for the act is selfish at all, but what suicide brings to others can be, as there's always a better alternative. As your signature states, suicide isn't the only way out, problems are temporary, and can be fixed in other ways.
Also, who's to say a natural 'HUMAN' response can't be selfish? Saving yourself at the risk of another is a natural human response, but is also selfish, and you can't separate the two as they coincide.