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People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

english.elpais.com

41–50 of 443 posts

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#41
post #37

I fully intend to kill myself eventually. The idea that I should prolong my life past the point where I get dementia, a degenerative disease, or just plain old age where I can't stand up or whipe my ass is repugnant enough that I can't understand people who want me to suffer until doctors finally stop being able to put me back together. Much better to die cheaply with a wonderful cocktail of opiates while watching a…

Much easier said than done. I doubt you'll feel the same way when that old age approaches, just like teenagers who think life is practically over by 40.

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#43
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not knowledge and they're truths only in name, it's philosophy.

Casual observation bears out the same truths. What living thing doesn't suffer?

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/channelopathy-ass...

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#45

This is something that I have had some personal experience with. I've known quite a few suicides, and survivors of the suicides of others. Very much a "walk a mile in a man's shoes" kind of thing. Everyone has opinions on the matter, until it hits them. Then, they have personal experience (not just an opinion). It sucks. In some cases, I can see why someone would want to end it all. In others, like this one[0], I fin…

And often there is no other solution and I’m very happy that people in my country have a choice about this. I would not want to see others suffer so that I won’t suffer their loss.

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#46
This lumps all the people who die by suicide into a single category. People commit suicide for various reasons.

Some of them do it to stop suffering, as the article says. Some do it out of sheer vengeance. Some do it as part of a pact. Some do it in such a way so that the cause is not proven to be suicide, and thus their near-and-dear get the insurance money. Some do it so that they have control over their lives till the very end. Some others like Mitchell Heisman, do it just because they can.

At the same time, some of these causes are preventable. Good faith attempts to address those causes are, of course, always laudable.

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#47
"Why hasn’t the number of deaths by suicide decreased?"

That housing and groceries is getting more and more expensive certainly doesn't help with that...

Of course, not so many people in this world suffer anymore from hunger but in the last years additional problems came up.

I know some older people who think that Depression is just a excuse for not wanting to work but these older people had it easier to build or buy a house than my generation - so I think more that the rising Depression in many is a symptom for an live which gets more and more difficult and them not being able to deal with it.

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#48
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keeping in line with the style of that comment: No, they're not.

Life is suffering. It's one of the 4 Noble truths of Buddhism. Ancient knowledge.

The first noble truth posits that dukkha (suffering) is a characteristic of existence in the realm of rebirth. The second, third and fourth noble truths posit that escape from dukkha (and therefore escape from the cycle of death and rebirth) is possible. "Life is suffering" is a shallow misinterpretation of Buddhist theology; Buddhists believe that all suffering has an identifiable cause and a known remedy.

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#49
at lowest for me it was normal to be in bed for 16-20 hours a day in agonizing pain and horrific migraines. Dozens of doctor appointments had mostly been a waste. They all claimed it was anxiety.

Realized one morning that I had spent hours thinking how wonderful it would be to never wake up again. Have kids, and the would end up in state care without me. (No family capable of caring for them)

Started trying every suggestion I could find on the internet. Lots of wasted effort and backfires. 6 months later I was Kayaking with kids each weekend. Took about 3 years to get mostly back to normal.

Hardest part was giving up all normal food and switching to a strict plain chicken, sweet potatoes and green veggies diet. Supplements, massages, avoiding all scents, special eye glasses, etc. eventually finding the right medications that didn’t have insane side effects.

Re: People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think some people have never experienced prolonged periods of suffering, and thus it is hard for them to imagine .

We may have not experienced prolonged pain, but we all have experienced suffering. Life itself is synonymous with suffering, for all but those few master sages who have been successful in conquering all of their cravings and reaching the utmost of equanimity. Suicide itself is virtually always a highly disordered act, that only demonstrates how deeply the person resorting to it is mired in her cravings. While some ki…

> Life itself is synonymous with suffering

What? No it isn't. Just because some guy wearing orange robes told you it is, doesn't mean it's true. I have been through a lot of depression and I would never accept such a statement alone: life is no more synonymous with suffering than it is with peace and joy

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