Why is suicide viewed with such callousness?

Question

Suicide is most often the last 'cry' for help. A person who commits suicide is has in many cases suffered for a very long time before coming to the act of taking ones own life.

While I am one of the first to admit that their have been a few who have jumped off a bridge just because they have been dumped I am not referring to them.

I am referring to those that have suffered for long periods of time, maybe silently maybe not, and after that long period of time have finally taken their own life.

People treat this callously, well if they couldn't handle it then their better off dead, and such. But often these are the people who have either, never had anything go wrong in their lives or have had something minor go wrong and they think that their world is caving in.

Having been there myself (noose around my neck) I get very angry when people just flippantly brush off the news of a suicide.

But now I wish to understand it. Why is it that people treat a suicide with such callousness, instead of feeling sorry that a person was driven to death they shrug their shoulders and make an off handed remark?

Please explain your answers.

I thank you in advance.

Answer 1

I think it's because suicide often follows a mental illness (as depression) and people can't see or measure a depression the same way that they can measure physical illness.

A close friend of mine had both his parents commit suicide. His father was diagnosed with cancer and would eventually die from it, he took the fast way out and people understood why he did it. They were very supportive and helpful towards my friend. His mother suffered from severe depressions for many years and she committed suicide while being admitted to a psych ward. People didn't understand why she did it, and my friend was pretty much on his own.

People with mental problems are generally misunderstood because you can't find the reason behind in a test tube or see it clearly through x-rays. They can't touch what is wrong and there are no bandages covering the pain.

I think the "callousness" is simply the inability to understand the reason behind.

Answer 2

A relative by marriage recently committed suicide in my family. I don't know anyone who treated it with flippancy but pain and anger do seem to be the norm. Those who loved the person are shocked and hurt that they weren't important enough to the person to stay alive. Parents resent the hurt their children are forced to go through if the suicide was close. Also, most people have had some pain in their lives and some people a lot of pain. They feel if they can stay alive although deeply depressed, why can't suicides. They think it the coward's way out.

Answer 3

First, I think you are kidding yourself to believe that on this planet people exit who have not had or will not have in the future something go wrong. We all die, we all lose loved ones, we all suffer loss, pain, sorrow; that is simply part of life. Anyone experiencing life on this planet will experience suffering to some degree. Some more than others, but that is all relative and not for us to judge. The question is, why will some endure better than others? Is it simply the extent of suffering, or their capicity to endure? If someone takes anothers life we consider it for the most part a heinous act, unless it is in self-defense. So likewise, it seems natural that taking ones own life is a heinous act. It is murdering ones self. Of course, there are varying degrees of murder. And so one would presume there must be varying degrees of suicide given the many possible reasons. In the end, only God knows the intent of ones heart. And if you don't believe in God or any after life, well, I guess then nothing really matters anyways, so why even worry. Right?

Answer 4

There is a difference between rational and irrational suicide. A person with a terminal illness with no possibility of surviving who decides to die peacefully without dragging their family and friends through a long and painful process represents a rational suicide. A person who just lost their job or spouse, and takes their life rather than processing their pain and learning from it represents an irrational suicide. Sonmetimes it's the right choice and other times it is not; it's all about the process.

Answer 5

First of all suicide is *very* unnatural under most circumstances|

It is usually not natural to kill oneself, because it contradicts the law of self preservation|


However, many people are driven to that by desperate circumstances and the absolutely cruelty and hypocrisy of those around them|

Of course they shouldn't be judged, because they were desperate|

However, generally it is not the right thing to do, since there is usually a solution, and often people do so when they have hit a particularly low time in life, but if they survive and feel better, they are glad they did not succeed and know that there are better things that they can do to cope|


We have to know that there is a certain breed of killer out there - in addition to the person who murders physically|

That is the person (or persons) who murder psychologically and metaphysically|

They murder by slowly wearing their victim down by a constant low level bullying through a form of psychological warfare aimed at that person, through subtle snide remarks, spreading vicious gossip, and sabotage aimed at their lifestyle|

When this is done (often in groups which is known as "mobbing") it can have the devastating effect of driving one to insanity (which is diagnosed as a "chemical imbalance"), criminal acts which they would not otherwise do, strange behavior which is in reality a coping mechanism which gets them ostracized or marginalized from society|


These killers know how to target their victims while remaining within the law, but if the victim understandably retaliates, they see that the full weight of the law is brought down upon *them.*

So many suicides, brought about by desperation, are actually murders orchestrated by the *depraved,* the *cowardly,* the *deceitful,* the *cons,* and the *monsters* among us walking around in the form of human beings|




---

Answer 6

Suicide depends on three things: Motivation, Contemplation, Full Knowledge of the act.

It is the motivation which implies the sorrow we feel for the person, but it is our responsibility, as human beings, to help one another, thus it is this step that causes a man to capsize into anguish.

After finding that evil outweighs good in ones life, Man begins to think, to contemplate two facts: One is that either the world would not care if I existed or not, and/or Two: That by killing myself, I destroy not only me, but the world to. Thus this leads into what I call the spiral of the nihilist.

Last of all, the act is where the human becomes fully responsible of his actions. It is by "his own" doing that he dies. It his own thinking, his own interpretation of the world that causes annihilation of the self. He is conscious unto death of his action, thus right at the end, the guilt overbears him, therefore, ending his life in Oblivion, a dead cause in which life continues, therefore, defeating the purpose of his death, either to rot in hell forever, or erased from society's memory.

It is by the first means, the Motivation, that society fails on our brothers and sisters. Thus, with our post-modern, secular, "no one cares" society, suicides are now common, thus leading to the fact that they are "callous".

Answer 7

I think the callousness we see in society on this issue stems from a reactive mentality that contains in part some sadness, the blame the friends or witnesses can feel, the pains of abandonment, and also it stirs the questions of ones own mortality which for many people in itself can feel like a negative experience.

Answer 8

it could especially circumstances be very difficult to be self unfavourable - a good number of human beings visit great lengths to push away acquaintances and kinfolk, to illustrate, even whilst they are lonely or throw away job possibilities. it would purely take an amazing volume of will to certainly *elect* that self-destruction if it have been something which you have been rather be attentive to-how of. It would not take any variety of bravery in case you do no longer understand the implications, the strengths of the alternative etc and often the persons who suicide are no longer in the physique of concepts to have that be attentive to-how ... Do you certainly think of somebody who's depressed or abused or is in intense actual soreness is going to be making the clearest decision? issues address a very diverse easy whilst something is making you experience that way. loss of life is a very visceral confusing adventure in maximum situations and that's in no way as short as human beings think of it will be. Ask people who've had seizures, strokes or heart assaults, it sounds like it is going on perpetually. the difficulty is, you get people who romanticise it of their heads and spot loss of life as something it is not and this provides them acontinual to die that's extra approximately an phantasm than any act of will. if so, suicide is only giving right into a romanticised phantasm for those in a very undesirable difficulty and dumping each little thing else around you for mentioned phantasm. no longer cool. certainly - it theoretically *ought to* take some capability to commit suicide even though it in no way does using situations in touch.

Answer 9

I think it is a way to prevent people of killing themselves. I agree with you about suicidal. If someone has lost the feeling to live, it is mostly not to care about what people will think about him or her after they have died. They don't care if people will mention them as looser, weak or wherever because they decided to die. At this point the person is desperate after something to relief its pain, and death seems to be the perfect answer. The pain of being a looser, weak or something low is very little to someone whom decided not to live anymore. Those feelings, are for proud people not for someone who has lost proud long ago and its up to die.

Answer 10

One of the best answers I ever heard was from actor/director John Huston, who said (and I paraphrase),"Most people are fortunate that they never have to deal with the fact that in the right circumstances, they are capable of anything."