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Is suicide a chioce? Sensitive topic
Siena
Posts: 15,681 Skive's The Limit
Hi.
I think this is a sensitive topic but one that needs to be adressed and discused for more awarness but not to much for peoole to think it is a way out, just understanding, instead of silence.
In my opinion suicide isnt a chioce. I think suicide isnt what someone is choosing to do but what could a mental illness causing them to do. But in some cases it may not be cause by a mental illness and then that may be chioce.
But if someone has a mental and they are in that much pain their mental illness makes them see this is their only way out, not them. Even though its not but they cant see it at the time.
Ive read that people shouldnt say "commit suicide". And i compley agree with this. Because commit suggest something bad like commit a crime. And that we should be saying "death by suicide" or "death by depression" it causes more stigma of mental illness.
If i lost someone to suicide i would want to think this. Ive spend a whole session discussing this with a mental health practitioner and i think i conviced them but then when i asked a different mental health proffesional they didnt hesitate and said its not a chioce like mental illness isn't.
What are peoples views?
I think this is a sensitive topic but one that needs to be adressed and discused for more awarness but not to much for peoole to think it is a way out, just understanding, instead of silence.
In my opinion suicide isnt a chioce. I think suicide isnt what someone is choosing to do but what could a mental illness causing them to do. But in some cases it may not be cause by a mental illness and then that may be chioce.
But if someone has a mental and they are in that much pain their mental illness makes them see this is their only way out, not them. Even though its not but they cant see it at the time.
Ive read that people shouldnt say "commit suicide". And i compley agree with this. Because commit suggest something bad like commit a crime. And that we should be saying "death by suicide" or "death by depression" it causes more stigma of mental illness.
If i lost someone to suicide i would want to think this. Ive spend a whole session discussing this with a mental health practitioner and i think i conviced them but then when i asked a different mental health proffesional they didnt hesitate and said its not a chioce like mental illness isn't.
What are peoples views?
“And when they look at you, they won't see everything you've been through. They won't see the **** that turned to scars that began to fade with time. They won't see the heartbreaking things that shook up and changed your entire world. They won't know how many tears you cried or even what it was you were crying about. They won't see how strong you had to be because you had no other choice. What they will see though is how compassionate you are because you experienced pain. What they will see is how kind you are because you experienced how cruel the world is. What they will see is how good you are because you've seen how bad things or people can be. The difference between you and your experiences are who you choose to be, despite everything that could have turned you cold and unkind.You are the good the world needs and the best of us.” ~ Kirsten Corley
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Comments
I think suicide is a choice, it's easier for people to accept it that way.
When I was 16 I thought about suicide quite a bit. This was due to all the bullying going on at school and the fact no one seemed to think I would go far in life as I couldn't learn as quickly as the others. I thought about it but thankfully the urge was never bad enough to act upon it.
If it was a choice people wouldn't do it. My thoughts weren't strong but I know I wouldn't choose to feel that way no one would
Some people think it's the only CHOICE, and it's not, like, it's the Life vs death scenario, you choose to live or die. Still a choice. And it's not about feelings when it comes to whether or not its a choice, it is solely choice, if you get me?
I get where you are coming from but people who have survived suicide didnt think they had a chioce they think that was the only way out of so much pain because their illness told them that, and couod of told them to do that. They didnt choose to have the illness in the first place.
Their illness chooses it for them not them. People physically cant think racionally and logically when they are in those crisises. Hope that makes sense .
Exactly this! Like there have been times where I've wanted to kill myself, but I chose not to exact on it. There have been times where I've wanted to kill myself and acted on it, but that was still my choice to do so.
I get where you're coming from, being someone who also battles a mental illness that fucks with my head more than I would like it too, and I know what it's like to 'attempt' and the feelings around it and so forth. I still however think, despite the fact we don't have a choice int he mental illness we are fighting, we do have a choice in the actions we take.
As the example I shared earlier, with suicide, you choose to end your life, you make that decision, whether in a rational or irrational state of mind, it doesn't just 'happen.' For us not to have a choice, it would have to be inevitable. I personally think suicide is something that can be inevitable, there is support people to help them with these feelings, but it's just about accessing support sooner.
I have depression and have attempted suicide and have sereve mental illness. In the moment i didnt have a chioce because depression took over my thinking. And Thats exactly what it does. You don't have control or choose when those moments happen. I dont get voices but you can completely get taken over by a mental illness.
Depression can make you tell things that arent true to yourself. Making suicide their only answer. And thats when depression gets very sereve that they are losing to their illness. Like when a physcial illness gets sereve and can die.
But i can see where you are coming from and maybe right but yeah -Suicide can be prevented -when its just thoughts but when their acting on it, thats when their losing to their illness. The chemicals in their brains are doing that for them
I have thought about taking my life many times. I believe that people will only understand if they have been it themselves.
And sometimes even people who have been through it themselves see it as a choice like WOTH and myself for example. Each individual has different experiences and different opinions
I get that people have different experience and opions. But i dont get why some would actively end their life and think that they are going to die. If they saw a chioce and option of getting better and things being better because yoy cant see it?
For some people it will be a choice, and for others it will not be.
Some people will have enough capacity and mental awareness to decide that they don't want to live anymore. They'll take the necessary steps to end their life.
Then there's some people who don't have the capacity or mental awareness and don't understand what they're doing. These are the people who don't choose to do so.
This is coming from my personal opinion and my interpretation of my training at Childline.
I think capacity is a major thing and is something that is different for every single person.
Interesting discussion.
@Mike
that is an interesting quote.
its because I told a health professional I want to kill myself and they told me “that is your choice” and after that being said I was like oh right I’m sane enough to make choices. It’s a choice not an illness.
No one chooses to feel that way because we can't choose any emotions we have, happy, sad, angry etc, we just feel what we feel, although we can change how we think about things which can help to change our emotions.
So if someone was to help us change our mind set then we might be able to get better. It would be a very long and hard processes but it is possible.
I want to stress that it isn't something we want to do, we are wired to survive and suicided goes against all instincts which means if we do, do it, it's not because we want to but something, like mental illness has brought it on.
However that isn't to say we have to go through with it (Note: is going through with it a choice?), as I said above we can get help, whether we reach out for that help is a different topic.
Now this is where I feel that it starts to get complicated. There maybe a point where our mind doesn't see any other choice in the matter other than to end our life but something inside you still has to make a decision to go through with it.
Now is this decision taken over by the mental illness and does that mean we aren't in control?
Is it down to us personally having enough?
Are they the same thing at this point, intwined together?
I don't have the answers to theses questions but I do feel that in the back of your head no matter how small there is a voice or thought or something that gives even a millisecond thought about it before going through with it (weather this is the yes do it moment that some might say peaceful or the oh shit no moment) you have to decide wholeheartedly with every bit of you and think about how are you going to do it? These questions make it a choice because you have to decide them.
However does having a mental illness stop the critical oh shit no moment from coming into your thoughts? (Therefore in our minds there is no decision to be made)
Maybe that should be the question.
(In my personal experience I planed a few ways to go and followed through with one, my sister stopped me, in that moment I wanted to die and I decided to die I said yes to the little voice so I made a choice, it might be different for others)
Personally, I believe that suicide isn't a 'choice'. To make a choice is something that you have conscious action over, something you pondered on and rationalized.
From my experience, suicide is something your mind believes you should do, out of a response to this overwhelming feeling of hopelessness or a factor that's causing extreme distress. Sometimes, it may not even be the case. Sometimes, it may start off with an intrusive thought. Then that voice of reason goes and whatever is left slowly starts to get to you.
It's painful. Especially when it's frequent.
It’s possible to recognise that without diminishing the pain or suffering experienced by those that commit suicide.