Suicide

Suicide: The Forever Decision

Hard times: everyone has them. What makes one human being differ from another is the way in which these times are dealt. While one person may rely heavily on support from family or loved ones, another may turn to drugs or alcohol to deal with the same problems. Still others, however, see no way at all to deal with their problems and know of next to no escape. This is where suicide enters the mix. Suicidal thoughts, feelings, or behavior is often a result of a treatable mental illness known as depression. Most suicidal people do not actually want to die; instead, they want relief or escape from the hard times they are facing.

It is often very difficult for a non-suicidal person to understand what is running through a suicidal person’s mind in the moments before, and leading up to, a suicide, whether failed or successful. While there are different particular reasons for each individual suicide attempt, the basis of why it occurred is the same: relief. Most adolescent failed suicides later admit that they did it as a means of escape from thoughts, feelings, or a situation that seemed impossible to get relief from (TeensHealth Online). These teenagers did not actually want to die; they simply wanted to escape and saw only one way to do so. This kind of thinking isn’t typical of all humans, fortunately, but for the average suicidal person it can be difficult to realize there are less drastic options available to them. This can be largely credited to the fact that most suicidal people are depressed (TeensHealth Online).

“Depression leads people to focus mostly on failures and disappointments, to emphasize the negative side of their situations, and to downplay their own capabilities or worth. Someone with severe depression is unable to see the possibility of a good outcome and may believe they will never be happy or things will never go right for them again.” (TeensHealth Online)

Depression is a very serious condition left unchecked; it distorts one’s thinking and makes everything seem so much more hopeless than it really is (TeensHealth Online). Depressed people don’t find truth in the old adage, “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem,” though in reality, it actually is. Even depression itself is a temporary problem; circumstances change and medications work (Schimelpfing Online). One only has to find the proper help, a task much less daunting than it sounds. Once the depression lifts, distorted thinking is cleared and returns to normal, but while a person is severely depressed, there is major risk for him or her becoming suicidal (TeensHealth Online). A suicidal person may not even realize that he or she is depressed; death, in his or her mind, is the solution to ending his or her problems instead of seeking out help for his or her depression. Another key problem is that alcohol and some drugs have depressive effects on the brain, working to either worsen or develop depression in their users (TeensHealth Online). This problem is further worsened by the fact that the now-depressed user turns to the very drugs or alcohol that are depressing them as a means of escape from their depression (TeensHealth Online). Many suicides are attempted while a person is under the influence of these substances (TeensHealth Online). In fact, such self-destructive behavior as abusing drugs or alcohol is one warning sign that a person may be suicidal (TeensHealth Online).