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Is committing suicide selfish?

agnestort

agnestort

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My thoughts:
I don't think it is. It comes with our human rights to detach ourself from life if we so prefer. Narcissistic or selfish? Everything we do is ungenerous & egoistic, is for our own part so why would committing suicide suddenly be excluded from that fact? If someone is primed to hop off a building or put a gun to their head, their current life situation must be so horrible that the damage to their relatives and friends would be nothing in comparison to the damage the person would cause to himself/herself by living on with life.
There is a story of a guy who had an intense sickness, he was more or less a vegetable (couldn't move or act whatsoever). He begged the government to let one of his doctors to give him the a death injection, but they wouldn't let him. A couple of months ago he did the accomplishment himself.

Often people fail to recognize we as outsiders just have no idea how a person is doing/living. We all have our own unique biological makeup (i.e. neurochemistry), our own unique environment, our own unique experiences, and what comes with all this individual uniqueness is how people cope with stressors.

What are your opinions in the matter?
 
It is. To say it isn't is, quite frankly, incorrect. The majority of the population have people that depend on them, people that care about them, people that love them. Committing suicide is a cheap way of escaping problems, while simultaneously loading a whole mess of new problems on your family, friends, etc.

As long as you're alive, you have a chance to make it better, to right the wrongs. If you're dead, your failings will be your epitaph. And this is coming from someone who has previously attempted to end their own life. It is a selfish act, no question.
 
i find it more selfish to expect someone to live through whatever is driving them to suicide just so they can stick around those that 'need' them

everything humans do is selfish. suicide is selfish but so is 'oh no don't kill yourself i need you, the world needs you', etc.

if someone is suicidal something is wrong. wanting to kill yourself or die in general goes against everything we've been bred for; we're made to live and prepare the world for our offspring and a new line of evolution. so if someone has the urge to off themselves, it's not because they're weak, it's not because they're failing, it's because something is seriously, seriously wrong.

what's selfish is looking at people and telling them to get over their problems, just smile, stop being so sad, life is so good, can't you see?
because they can't. they have sunk down into a hole so deep they can't think of any possible way of bettering themselves or the world that's not killing themselves.
most of the time they feel like things are better without them; not for themselves, but for those around them.
severe depression that leads to suicide warps your view of the world and how you feel people think of you. the pain is borne from thinking you're useless, that you're holding everybody back, that you're the literal scum of the planet. you think no-one can improve upon that, no-one can change or make up for all you haven't done because you're so ****ty. you think the best thing to do is to disappear. you think everyone is mocking you when they say they care, that they're just doing it to get out of cleaning up after you when you leave. they just don't want people knowing someone they know killed themselves because it's such a shameful, disgusting thing. you don't feel like people need you.

when you want to kill yourself, you know it's selfish. people say it all the time; selfish, weak, stupid. it makes it worse. hearing those words when you are teetering on the edge of 'all i do is hurt everyone around me, why am i here' only hammers it in deeper.

if someone you know is suicidal, do not kick them when they are down. support them to get better, help them find a way to get them back on their feet so they can start finding a way to climb themselves out of the hole they've found themselves in. reminding them of how selfish, how weak, how wasteful they are will only make things worse.

but is suicide selfish? of course. what, of all things humans do for themselves, isn't selfish? living is selfish. all we do is be selfish, and you know what- that's okay. it's natural. we just have to know when our selfishness is toxic. we need to know when to take a breath and realise we're twisting our own thoughts into something that could turn out bad. we need to know how and when to help and when to ask for help. we need to stop treating suicide like it's some repulsive, grotesque, shameful concept and realise it's a sign that someone needs serious support, love, and aid.
 
I know that some do believe that committing suicide is selfish. I can understand why this is perceived because losing a loved one is hard enough. But having them commit suicide can be almost unbearable, because you can't help but think why didn't they take you into consideration. But having been in the mind set near suicide myself, I can honestly tell you that this is a very dark place to be. You don't think about those who could be affect as hard as this maybe to comprehend. I know that I didn't at the time. Fortunately I did manage to come out of it, without taking my life, but believe me this is a very low place to be.
 
I was left very very upset and angry when my real mum killed herself. I was the one who found her, too. That word "selfish" isn't something I'd therefore wish to comment about on your topic. However, agnestort, if I can be of any help or comfort to you, please private message me. :)
 
Everyone usually considers suicide for different reasons.
Though, the bottom line is, they feel like life will not improve. They're suffering.

If someone is suffering their immediate response is to make it stop. Just because there are people who love them out there, that doesn't mean their love can make the pain stop. It's more selfish to expect that a little love will solve everything, when in reality, it won't.

I know not everyone thinks like me, and I usually don't like talking about it, but when I was considering suicide and even attempting it, I believed that the people I loved were suffering because of me. I was suffering myself and I wanted ALL suffering to stop. I don't think anyone could call that being selfish when the only thing on my mind was the people that I loved. You know? Each time I ended up going to the hospital, the people that I met who had depression all had the same idea: They felt like they were nuisances to the people they loved, they felt like the people they loved would be better off without them.

How could anyone call that being selfish? I don't know.
 
Yes. It's selfish, if it's in a case such as depression. Depression and the like can be effectively treated through therapy, medication, a change of scenery, plenty of different things. It gets better. Living to see a brighter life is generally what happens to people who hold on and get treated- rather than offing themselves and in the process traumatizing their loved ones.
 
I think it is even more selfish to judge other people's decisions. Yeah, on the onset, we would look at suicide as a wrong move. Of course, we could throw all negative comments at those who committed the act. However, the biggest question is - did we also experience what they went through?

Most of the time, people commit suicide because other people they hold dear were too selfish to let them experience the real meaning of living. It's really easy to say that we should make things right and come out as better persons instead of taking our own lives. But, we are not in their shoes.
 
Just like a lot of things in life suicide is a lot of things and has the ability to be a lot of thing from different perspectives. I have a lot of family. If any of them committed suicide then I would be absolutely distraught about it. I would not be happy at all. I would be angry at the person unless I knew the ins and outs of why they had done such a thing. And if it met my needs for them to have killed themselves then I would be ok about it. I would still miss them but I would deal with it a lot better.

On the other hand, I have suffered from depression all of my life. I have attempted suicide more than three times, and I know that when you are in the state of mind, you just want out. It is not about anyone else, and to be honest you are not thinking about anyone else in that situation.

Then again all of our actions are selfish, whether you are doing something for another person or not. You are doing it because YOU think it will make you feel better or good to do whatever it is that you are doing for the other person. It is the same when you do something for yourself.
 
It's hard to debate since it's very much personal oppinion. After reading a bit on your thoughts I still stand by my oppinion that suicide isn't selfish.

I agree that there are many cases were lives has been thrown away for no reason and stupid teens committing suicide because they don't know better but there are also many cases were suicide has been the only option. I have said it before and I state it again:
If someone is eager to hop off a building or put a gun to their head, their current life situation must be so horrible that the damage to their relatives and friends would be nothing in comparison to the damage the person would cause to himself/herself by living on with life.
Click to expand...

Your ego comes first in all situations and I think saying that suicide is wrong is unempathic and immoral because that's the same thing as saying that you shouldn't be egoistic and frankly, that's what defines us as animals - we care about ourself.

Interesting posts so far!
 
My late mum had depression. Her heathcare team did all they could to help her get well again, but she went her own determined way. Many times she threatened to end it all, but I grew immune to the emotional blackmail she tried on. Somehow some day I knew she'd do herself in. I called her doctor and he did all he could. But despite her doctor's help, my mum was an adult, so made adult decisions. She ended her life of her own decision and I was left behind. Very bloody angry indeed. Mum was a selfish ****. End of.

Years on I've been adopted by a super family. They are close-knit, stable, deeply caring and very very loving. They have been doing their utmost to help me and in so many wonderful ways. The road is still long, but I see a definite route. I'm still trying to put my late mother's life behind me. Its a slow walk. But I have all the time in the world. And a wonderful girlfriend I have known for a very long time, Rachel's younger sister Jilly. So there is hope for the broken hearted. Those like me who have been abondoned by suiciders, we carry on and be strong for the most part. But I'm told its still alright to cry and thats because I have such a great and understanding, loving family.
 
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I'll get too rilled up if I keep up with this debate or read other's responses, but no it is NOT selfish at all. Even if one considers it selfish, then it essentially equals out with it being selfish to try and keep someone alive through medication or guilt. That being the case, if one says it is selfish, they need to realize they're being equally selfish through their own context. Thus, there is no resolve. That being said, suicide is not selfish at all. It's completely hypocritical to say it is selfish for someone to commit suicide, but then attempt to keep them alive when they don't want to be. It's much like murder is selfish.
 
I personally do not think it is selfish. However, what I do think is selfish is when mothers, fathers, sons, daughter etc just off themselves and don't think to give explanation to their families etc.
If you're going to commit suicide at least make a plan for your kids...don't just leave them dangling.
 
Some would argue that self interest drives humans in all their endeavours. This would depend on how self interest is defined. I happen to see self interest as a complete lack of consideration for others, and I believe this would make suicide a selfish act. It has the potential to cause a lot of damage.
 
I belong to a private site that supports people who have been bereaved by suicide, and I just can't thank them enough. I hope none of you ever become victims of suicide. Even years on, one still is brought to remembrance. This month is the anniversary of my late mother's suicide. Although I've since become adopted, the horror of it all is brought to remembrance and it doesn't seem to get any better. Though I am respectful of peoples views on this thread, I have found some opinions really bloody awful. :/ And I thought I was a strong teenage girl, but Christ -
 
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