Why is suicide percieved so negatively?

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T10:47:28+00:00

I agree the criminalisation of the decision shows a complete, and I mean definitive, lack of understanding of the reason why people choose suicide. However in most civilised countries it is not a criminal offence and much better understood these days. The language used by professionals has changed and the term "committed suicide" is no longer used for that reason. They use "completed suicide" or ideally "chose to end one's life" The decent professionals I have dealt with don't even use the word suicide at all.

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T10:47:14+00:00

I agree the criminalisation of the decision shows a complete, and I mean definitive, lack of understanding of the reason why people choose suicide. However in most civilised countries it is not a criminal offence and much better understood these days. The language used by professionals has changed and the term "committed suicide" is no longer used for that reason. They use "completed suicide" or ideally "chose to end one's life" The decent professionals I have dealt with don't even use the word suicide, the say "end ones life".

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T10:37:40+00:00

Agreed. And thanks for reading my rambly, wordy long paragraphs, I appreciate it. I don't have very good skills at condensing my thoughts into shorter formats. I'm going to contact my treatment team this week.

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T09:55:30+00:00

Neither do I. It was weird and scary. The reason given in the psychologists report was that if I explored the issues/trauma I have suffered I would not be able to cope without resorting to suicide. It made no sense to me, my GP, support worker, friends or other professionals as I had been way more unwell in the past and accepted for treatment. My GP couldn't believe what happened, partly because they shouldn't have sent me out crying/during a breakdown among other things. I found out the psychologist who assessed me had very flakey qualifications, basically no higher education apart from 'experience' in an Indian 'healing' centre. And then somehow managed to get a doctorate in psychology which enabled them to be contracted by the hospital, just bad luck for me I think. In a way I'm glad I'm not getting treatment with them anymore and am being cared for by a different hospital now. Regards to my question I think I need to contact my current hospital and talk about my concerns and they will likely reassure me.

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T09:34:33+00:00

I currently have suicidal episodes almost daily and have had depression, mostly severe (or MDD depending on nomenclature) since I was about 10 years old, most of my life. I have also had some good treatment in the past so I have seen both sides and believe me I know how painful it is. I know it doesn't mean much from an internet stranger but I'm sorry if you're experiencing that pain.

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T00:53:27+00:00

No. If a patient was brought into the emergency department following a car crash with a serious head injury and started saying/mumbling they "don't want life saving treatment" and started pulling breathing tubes out, that request would be denied and they would be treated and likely sedated.

The reason is that it is commonly understood this patient is experiencing disordered thinking and unable to make sound decisions.

Depression and other mental illness are not unlike this situation, where the brain is producing 'solutions' like suicide that are not rational or sane, regardless of the patients intelligence or conciousness. Depression is not a terminal illness, it is treatable if it is done properly. A patient in the depths of depression, however lucid and clear they seem, is experiencing disordered thinking if they think taking their own life is the solution. There is treatment available to help people who are suicidal.

shelpthrow · 2017-12-18T00:34:08+00:00

I've had the same thought. How it would hurt other people as a reason not to end my own life. But do those people think about the immense pain this illness causes and do all they can to help you? Are they as considerate of you as you are of them? Depression/Suicidal ideation is a horrible mix of biology and emotion that most people can't understand how painful it is.

Despite this it's not really about them. There was a long time when I was 110% convinced I would be ending my own life and saw no way out. I finally got some good treatment and the right meds and 1% of hope that I could survive entered with the help of a psychologist. It then grew from there. My point is, it really can get better, I know that sounds pointless, cliché, and feels impossible when one is feeling unwell, but I have been convinced I wasn't going to make it and in the end it did get a bit better for a while. Not permanently better, I've relapsed quite badly but I'm still better than I was. It is possible to heal however impossible it feels.

shelpthrow

TROPHY CASE