Is attempting or committing suicide because of depression/bipolar disorder justifiable? Why?

Question

There are several general issues pertaining to my asking this question:

ASIDE FROM religious perspectives,
(1) is depression unforgivably selfish? Why?
(2) is attempting/committing suicide immoral? Why?
(3) is euthanasia (in the traditional sense of termination of life due to 'biological' illnesses) immoral? Why?
(4) are the principles of suicide and euthanasia the same? Why?

Lastly,
(5) is depression/bipolar disorder as 'legitimate' a disease as, i.e., cancer? Why?

I am curious about the general consensus of the answers to these questions. Please explain your answer thoroughly so your train of thought is sufficiently conveyed. Thanks!

Crap, sorry, I posted this question like 3-4 times. Stupid internet.

Additional note: I am not considering suicide, just taking a survey on the matter. I'm fine! =)

Apologies for dictating that the answer had to be from non-religious perspective. I wrote that because I have already explored that perspective concerning my question. In retrospect, I shouldn't have restricted it like that because that's part of the answers of many people.

Answer 1

As a person whi suffers from depression, I tink I have more right that anyone else to answer these.

1) No. Depression cannot be helped. People have this awful habit of thinking that people with depression can get over it, they're just overdramatizing and don't want to. Not the case! Do you think we LIKE feeling like sh!t every day of our lives? No. No, we really, really don't. Every day is hard, every day is a struggle just to do the simple things... I don't think developing a mental disorder you have absolutely no control over is selfish.

2) I think that there are many cases in which Suicide can be seen as a justifiable cause. Many people with depression just don't see any "light" at the end of their tunnel. Where a normal person can see that the sadness will eventually end, and that there are many things worth seeing it to the next day for, Depression clouds a persons judgement and just fails in letting them see these simple facts that people without the disorder take for granted.

3) No, I don't thing euthanasia is immoral. Euthanasia is not murder. It is someone who is sick or dying themselves requesting that another person assist them in taking their own lives. Many people who have committed euthanasia say that the person they assisted wanted it because they were bound to die of a very painful, humiliating and undignified terminal disease and that they would have rather died on their own terms than let the disease absolutely cripple them, and let their family see them in such a undignified way, the last way people may ever see them... the last way people will remember them... I see nothing wrong with this...

4) No. Suicide is when a person does it themselves. Euthanasia is assisted, and usually the person is very physically ill to want to commit euthanasia.

5) YES!! There is so much stigma surrounding mental disorders. People assume that because they can physically see the damage they cause, they don't physically "exist". They think because it affects he persons brain functions, the person is "thinking them up". Not true. Most mental disorders are just as much physiological as a disease like Cancer. Many chemicals inside the brain are imbalanced, causing devastating effects on the persons mood and personality, causing mental disorders. I think people need tobe educated more about them..

Answer 2

1 - Depression is an illness. Self-pity, however is selfish if you live in a wealthy and developed nation. Don't know about "unforgivably" - that's a little harsh and subjective.

2 - Don't know about morality or immorality. Attempting suicide as a cry for help is stupid - just get help, don't try & do yourself in.

If people make an attempt and then publicise it, wanting others to feel sorry for them, I feel nothing but contempt for them, as it goes beyong self-pity into something much more self-indulgent.

Committing suicide is for losers. Why end your life, it'll happen too soon anyway. To be alive is brilliant and although I've suffered from clinical depression myself in my younger years I love and cherish every second of my life. I had to make some adjustments to my life to get here, but nobody said life was easy.

I once met the poet Allen Ginsberg, and I had read in his published diaries the line "I want to die but am afraid of suicide". I asked him how he got past this and he looked at me in a funny way and said "Things change". That's pretty simple, but true.

3 - A tricky one. All I can say is that my gut feeling told me that the Terri Schriver situation made me very sad, and I did not think it was right to prolong her life when the person inside was already dead.

I think if you have a terminal illness and want to no longer be in real pain, people should have the opportunity to die with some dignity at a time of their own choosing.

4 - Suicide is about self pity, and wanting to end a healthy life because of temporary mental imbalance. Euthanasia is about dying with dignity and ending unnecessary pain in the face of a terminal illness.

5 - Well, it isn't cellular. It's all just chemical imbalances in the brain. It is an illness, not a disease.

I hope you're asking out of curiosity, not because you're suffering from depression and considering suicide! If you are, then I feel concern. But if you do it, then I'll just write you off as a pathetic loser.

I hope that conveys my train of thought sufficiently!

Take care.

Answer 3

1. Depression is a clinical state, with medicines to treat it. Most people pass through some state of depression at a point of their lives; but chronical depression is a disease. So is (5) manic depression (bipolar disorder). There are treatments for that, to different degree of effectiveness.
Not making the effort to get treated is unforgivable, though, IMHO. It is not getting treated that is not justifiable. Attempting suicide seems a result of that; and so is not justifiable either.

2. Attempting / commiting suicide is wrong. Taking the life of a human being is immoral; and one's own especially. We did not decide when to be born; we have no right to decide when to die.

3. Euthanasia is, in my opinion, generally wrong. A person has no right to decide when another person must not live. Even when life is hopeless, there have been miracles (I have been a witness of one).

4. I think the principles of suicide and euthanasia are not the same. In the first case, you rely on your own capacities to commit the act; in the latter, on another person.

Answer 4

Am not sorry to tell you that you are trying to limit the answers to your question by dictating the parameters of any answer. Thus to try to answer your question outside of either "ethical" or "moral" theology restrains one from telling you their ideals truthfully, and thereby bringing one to but give a vague consensus or peculiar thought without conviction. Surely you must know that most people have some foundation of thought concerning these kinds of issues, and many if not most of them are based on precise religious perspectives. It is only because of my faith and "religious perspectives" that I have remained alive to this day, having afore-tempted and contemplated suicide, have suffered before severe depression, and have considered all these social questions you have asked. If you desire truthful answers, you can not dictate nor try to control the answering. You must listen, and then weigh the answers given to you. So you understand me fully, I am alive today by the Grace of God. He brought me through the depressions, the traumas, the ideations. God has taught me what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to obey a voice in yourself seeking to convince yourself it is right to harm yourself or others. Now it is not wrong to lay down my life for another, which is neither suicide, nor euthanasia, nor disease. Do not misunderstand me. Sometimes things are so difficult, one might despair of life. But we are to endure, and by God's strength we shall. For in weakness He has perfected strength. I have infirmities, and some might say they are nothing. But I say, try it sometime, then you shall know. Lastly, concerning euthanasia, is it not better to comfort than to kill?

Answer 5

1) No. When I was suicidal I always imagined myself giving my life to save someone else, thus ending my pain but more importantly giving someone else the chance to live happily.
2) Yes. It is denying oneself humanity.
3) Yes. It is denying another humanity.
4) Yes and no. They both are crimes against an individual that may be due to selfless or selfish causes, but the principles behind the two vary at the point of who is affected.
5) Yes. The neurons in an individual's brain fail to stem specific signals when responded to during times of stress. There are times when, even after the stress has subsided, they continue to fail. This is depression or in some cases bipolar disorder.

Answer 6

Suicide is a bad idea no matter what

Answer 7

Girl, remember killing yourself is a mortal sin no matter what your reason is. But if you want I'm not stopping you.