Im so over people saying that suicide or suicidal attempts are SELFISH!!!!!

You read it every where, you hear people saying it all the time that suicide is selfish. Almost 100% of the time, those saying that it is selfish have not been in such a position where life feels utterly and totally hopeless. You dont know, until you have had personal experience. I got told by my closest friend today in a random converstaion that she thought suicide is a selfish act. Well boy did I let her have my two cents worth. I dont think its selfish, we have to remember that is a mental health condition and those suffering from such an illness can't help but feel the way they do. Its like a physical illness, If you break your leg, you cant walk on it right and you are offered help such as physio, thats accepted by society. Well why is it that when you suffer from depression and have low seritonin levels and you may feel suicidal that having these feelings is considered selfish???? Just like the physical injury, people cant help having a mental injury right??? So I think that society needs to stop making the judgement that suicide or suicide attempts is a selfish act, afterall the person suffering from the condition can not help the intense feelings she/he has and consequently the actions that may follow. Dont get me wrong, I hate the thought of someone commiting such an end of line sentence to themselves, but I just wish that people would have a better understanding of the illness and maybe just then, will people be more willing to seek help for mental illness because of the greater understanding and hopefully decreasing the stigma associated with it. People who have commited suicide are in my opinion definately not SELFISH. People who use such a label are themselves being selfish and ignorent for not trying to understand mental health. There definately needs to be a big focus on educating society of mental health and accepting the fact, that Mental health is a huge area which needs addressing in NZ, if we are to see a reduction in attempted and completed suicide statistics.

Sorry for the long rant guys,
But it is something I really feel strongly about

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i think its quite controversal really, i think everyone is intitled to there opinon and i can see it from both sides. To me, the word selfish means "focussed on your self", and when i am in the space where i feel suicidal yes i am foccused mostly on ME, my thoughts, my beliefs, my depresion etc. The things that stop me from going further with it is when i take the focus off myself and think of what it will do to the people who love me. i think people view the word itself wrong and paint the word in a negivite light when for me anyway i think it just simply means you at that time are unable to see very far outside of your own thoughts to realise what you will untimately loose by completing suicide. its really hard when you cant see a light at the end of the tunel and very hard for people who havnet walked in your shoes to see it any other way.

a very good friend of mine commited suicide and it broke my heart, sitll doees, it took me a long time for me to come to a conclusion about weather or not she was selfish or brave, what i concluded was that she was self focuccsed aka selfish, thats not meant as a bad thing just a word but she was in that space where she felt so desparte she simply wasnt thinking of what others thought or wanted for her, she wasnt thinking of the people who loved her, she wasnt thinking of the things she would miss here on earth, she was just desperate and couldnt see far enuff to think anything would change for her.. so she died.

i guess i do think people (me included) who do it are selfsih, but i dont mean that in a nasty way hopefully you get what im trying to say i dont think ive explained myself very clearly sorry for that.

i dont think you cann expect people that havent walked in your shoes to understand.. how can they? if someone hasnt experienced derpression its very hard for them to udnerstand why people who do suffer from it are the way they are and why they do the things they do at time. for those who try and understand, i give them credit, its not an easy thing to understand for sure



devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.

this discription of selfish fits ME. Wehn im in that space people can tell me they care and love me etc and it doesnt have a lot of impact because im still focussed on me and my misery. its not a bad thing. its just how it is. its how depression works and its nothing to be ashamed of.

mabye people need to keep in mind the actual defintion of the word

well said mum. well said.

I have lost friend to suicide and have attempted suicide myself on a number of occasions. When someone is successful in commiting the act of suicide it is a very sad time but for me my friends were finally at peace with themselves.

When someone is so unwell that suicide becomes an option it means they are dealing with some really scary deamons be it mental illness, grief, depression etc.

There is a high chance due to the nature of my illness that I may end up taking my own life. I just hope that even though my friends will be sad, they could be angry at me I hope they understand.

I deal with 2 or 3 suicidal clients a month in my job. I find it really hard to deal with due to my past but also balanceing my personal opinions about suicide with my professional responceabilities and what society expects us to do.

I had a really hard situation the other night. I friend of mine has been caught out crying wolf in regards attempting suicide. I was online talking to her via MSN and she told me she had just swallowed a whole lot of pills. I advised her that I could not deal with her stuff at the momment and logged off.

In my opinion suicide is not sellfish and is a valid option, but faking it or threatening it to get attention is very sellfish.

Well its true that when I attempted suicide I never thought of anyone even myself. That was because I was too beside my self to care. Would I do it again??? maybe although I tell everyone I wouldnt who knows. People should walk a mile in our shoes and then tell us we are selfish.
As for faking it or crying wolf why the hell would you now thats selfish!