Quote:
Originally Posted by Daradon
Ultimately his own hand did him in. Whether one wants to point at the people around him, the chemicals in his brain or anything else. Yeah it sucks, but it was ultimately his responsibility. No one forced him to do that. And if people say the chemicals forced him, then we might as well write off alcoholism, addiction, pedophilia, sociopath(ism?) etc.
Ultimately the buck stops somewhere. Or really, we're all diseased. Some more than others, but ultimately ALL of us.
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Look, I know you're a smart dude. You probably know that the "chemicals" in your brain create your personality, your consciousness, your thoughts, and ultimately your decisions. I don't want to go down the "free will" road (unless someone starts a thread on it!) but suffice it to say that when those "chemicals" go haywire, YOU go haywire. There's no secret "real" you behind the "chemicals" telling you not to do it. Depression IS a disease, it's a freakin' disease of the brain. It's pretty easy to argue that it's worse than cancer but we don't have to go there either.
The problem is, the various diseases that these "chemicals" cause are experienced almost entirely subjectively. It's impossible for someone who hasn't felt it, to feel it. No one knows what schizophrenia is until they themselves become schizophrenic. Same with real depression. People hear that word and think of the time their wife left them or their kid died. "Chemically" caused depression isn't created by some event you have the ability to get over. It becomes who you are.
So who's left to "decide" to live?