My psych said its a choice, but i dont think it is. i think its an illness. i dont really think theres much choice there. I dont feel i have a choice, espesh with psychosis.
what do everyone else think?x
At the end of the day, most things we do are from having a choice - we may perceive it as something we can't avoid, but that's not necessarily true.
I've never suffered from psychosis or extreme depersonalisation though, so I can't comment from that respect, but in my opinion, it is our choice to pick up a blade/lighter/whatever and take it to our skin, it is therefore our choice to jump off a building or cause harm to ourselves in any way.
i would say it is a choice however the illness which you refer to is - however these two things maybe linked the illness drives the person to suicide but its still a choice
yes it is a choice.
but i think some people see it as the ownly way and they dont have a choice.
" my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never, never leave you during your times of trials and suffering. When you see only one set of footprints it was then that I carried you" you were carried out of are lifes into the next and when its my time to leave this life I know i will be carried into the next life with you.
I wish i had my world complete again.
'Can we protend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars, i could really use a wish right now' BoB
It's a choice.
If you are coherent and with it when you try then it is a choice.
I mean shock horror, you could always like, not do it.
But if you are not all there mentally at the time, either with depersonalisation or something then I dunno.
You can get diagnosed with things like BPD, Ed etc which are illnesses, but you have a choice to recover.
But you can't be diagnosed with suicide, I mean that actually doesn't make sense in the English language.
"Hi, I'm Joe, I have Anorexia"
"Hi, I'm Bloggs, I have Depression"
"Hi, I'm Mr. B, I have Suicide".
^ Agreed - it's never the only choice, and yes, i think suicide is a choice. The choice you make between life & death, between fighting the battle or losing it, and such things like that. There's always other options instead of suicide. Even if it's sitting on your ass training monkey's to do gymnastics - that's another option. I can't think of any benefit with the monkeys, but obviously the point remains there are other things one can do than to commit suicide to rid the pain of depression, and/or other illnesses.
Thats a tough one. When I look back at my alcoholism, I know I didn't have any choice then. Alcohol stripped me of the ability to make choices - the only think I was concerned about was drinking, and that influenced all my descisions, literally making me have no choice. I wonder if depression/mental illness is acting in the same way - taking away the choices that I do have. I've only been actively suicidal once, and I regretted it sooner after. I was in a place where there was no way I could change my mind. My mind was totally made up, even though it wasn't what I really wanted. It was very strange, its as if it wasn't me doing that.
So I think that in the majority of cases, suicide isn't a choice.
Its hard to explain what I mean. I think with certain illnesses/addictions, we have the illusion of choice, but in reality there are things so huge that are influencing our descisions, that we aren't actually making real choices. Its only when we start to recover that we gain back some of our ability to make choices. Now that I'm sober, I can choose wether or not to have that first drink. I didn't have that choice when I was an active alcoholic.
Its all or nothing
And nothings all I ever get
Every time I turn it on
I burn it up and burn it out
more like what if its the only way out? id it still a choice then? if an illness drives u to depression, how is that a choice?
Because you can choose to fight it and attempt to make something better,
Or, you can choose to let it take over your life and ruin you.
Suicide isn't the only way out, ever.
Because if sucide is the only choice for the mentally ill, why the hell are there some people on here actively trying to get better? Why arn't we all dead by sucide already?
well, i can see this question is going to cause debate....but i'll add in my views anyway.
I personally think that suicide is always a choice. Life or death.
No one chooses to suffer with a mental illness, and suicide can be a symptom of a mental illness, but I still believe you have a choice.
Quite possibly the next bit below could trigger, ~~~~~~~~~~
I have sufferd from severe clinical depression myself and been at the brink of death, but in the end I know it was my choice to take that lethal selction of tablets, or to run the knife into my wrist. I was mentally ill, but I still had a mind which told me to make those awful choices.
As for psychosis, I suffer terribly with that for much of the time. again your mind is not quite right. Suicide could be a symptom of suffering from pyschosis. I have been hospitalised because my need to end my life was so strong I most probably would have done so. Even in the most deep sense of psychosis though I still believe I had a choice.
You may feel an overwhelming desire to take your own life for personal reasons, or you may because you have insistent voices or visions that tell you what to do. Even though these hallusinations can be terrifying, and deadly insistant, in the end it always only going to be your hand that carries out the awful dead.
I mean, I have got home some evenings (back when I lived with my parents).
And I knew that if I sat at home, with everyone asleep I'd do something very stupid, like trying to kill myself.
So i'd call NHS direct/999 and they'd get an ambulance to come pick me up and escort me to the hospital. Where I would wait untill morning to see a psych and then they'd take me back home.
They have to do it by law, because if someone calls them saying they are suicidal then if they ignore the call then they are liable.
Also, the people at NHS direct and amazing.
What if you lose time, and in that blank do something that could end your life? It's not a conscious choice then, even if you are carrying it out on yourself.
'Just wether you can be bothered fighting the oh so powerfully overwhelming urges'
It's not always down to that either. What if you are desperate to fight the urges but you dissociate, or if you fight the urges you know that you will end up losing time and doing something far worse to yourself and not being aware of it?
What if you are desperate to fight the urges but you dissociate, or if you fight the urges you know that you will end up losing time and doing something far worse to yourself and not being aware of it?
Terrified, its interesting that you mentioned about loosing time.
I've only had one alcoholic blackout (well, I had hundreds that didn't last long, only had the one marathon 5 hour or so one) and I know that I wouldn't have chosen to do what I did during those 5 hours had I been there at the time. That sounds weird reading it back. I had no awareness of what happened. It wasn't me, I wasn't in control and I didn't choose. Suicide in those situations, I'm 100% certain isn't a choice.
Its all or nothing
And nothings all I ever get
Every time I turn it on
I burn it up and burn it out
Ok, I worded that badly. There have been times I have been suicidal and fought the urges and then found I have lost time and in that time I have taken a hefty Od or something because my brain has decided to do it anyway, regardless of whether or not I decided to fight. That's what I meant, it's not always as simple as fighting the urge to hurt yourself like that.
I've got a friend (who is now 22 years sober) who on the night of his last drunk wanted to kill himself. The only thing that stopped him jumping of that bridge was the thought that he might survive, only to break his legs and be forced to go to hospital. In hospital, he wouldn't be able to drink, and that was a worse situation for him than suicide.
Its all or nothing
And nothings all I ever get
Every time I turn it on
I burn it up and burn it out
