Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
Seconded. Depression really is a silent killer that cuts across social lines, and it's astonishing the ignorance our society has toward mental illness. Anyone who thinks a suicide who suffered from depression was "selfish" needs to give their head a shake.
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I don't view them as "selfish" but I think we're missing the boat a bit if we don't think a good many of these people aren't making a choice.
Some in this thread have flat out stated that suicide isn't a choice.
Yet we can see many instances where that isn't true.
We give medals to people who fall on grenades or willingly put themselves in a hopeless position to save others, some with only a second of thought and others as the result of careful planning.
We can believe the stereotype that people like Mohammed Atta are mentally deranged when the term "brainwashed" might be better . . . . in the case of the latter it's a conscious decision to believe in something and sacrifice one's life for that cause after meticulous planning.
I know of one person with depression issues who has told me of "plans" to "off herself" at age 70. She's 50 now. (yes, she's under care for her issues).
About 10 years ago, the FAA determined that the pilot of an Egyptian Air flight deliberately pushed the yoke of his aircraft forward and, after a cockpit struggle, plowed the plane and passengers into the Atlantic Ocean. The verdict of suicide was so anathema to Egyptian culture, however, that formal diplomatic protests were lodged and riots broke out. Something about Muslims not being capable of suicide for personal reasons.
We know that people in extreme pain as a result of chronic illness will choose to end their lives.
The latter is instructive because it's basically a deliberate and considered decision to relieve unrelievable pain.
On the other hand, one of the people I knew who committed suicide stabbed herself 14 times, which sounds pretty excessive on the pain quotient.
The point in my post would be that I think it's wrong to make a blanket statement about mental illness relieving someone of the responsibility of "choice."
Clearly there are choices made in some or many of these instances, just as you might be right to say that others are too sick to understand the import of their actions.
Cowperson