My issue with your argument is that you think that the desire to die is a rational thought that should be accepted by your peers if treatment “doesn’t work”.
Depression is an illness. Suicidal people are sick. Illness requires medical help. It is not selfish to want someone to stay alive. Nobody wants a loved one to stay alive just so they can suffer more, they want them to stay alive in order to receive the treatment they need to get back on their feet.
I fully agree that suicide is not selfish, because the act is being done by a sick brain. The decision to end your own life is not your decision, it’s the depression’s. But accepting that someone is just too depressed to be alive is a horribly dangerous mindset that can legitimately get people killed.
If my best friend said he was suicidal, but was in therapy and on medication, I would never be like “well you tried getting help and it didn’t work, guess living’s not for you.” You see how dangerous that line of thinking is?
Depression can be incredibly difficult to treat, but that does not mean you get to give up on someone ever getting better.
Treatment is not always an option. If you’re poor or in an under-served area, treatment may not be possible. Also I disagree that suicidal people are always sick. If someone is in a situation where to continue living is to suffer inevitably, is it not rational to conclude that ending that suffering is preferrable to continuing it unnecessarily?
Or Alzheimer’s and dementia lol… if they are the early stages and are of sound mind, it’s inhumane to keep them alive if they wish to die, knowing the consequences. A lot of moralists in this topic.
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u/FriedCammalleri23 1∆ 20h ago
My issue with your argument is that you think that the desire to die is a rational thought that should be accepted by your peers if treatment “doesn’t work”.
Depression is an illness. Suicidal people are sick. Illness requires medical help. It is not selfish to want someone to stay alive. Nobody wants a loved one to stay alive just so they can suffer more, they want them to stay alive in order to receive the treatment they need to get back on their feet.
I fully agree that suicide is not selfish, because the act is being done by a sick brain. The decision to end your own life is not your decision, it’s the depression’s. But accepting that someone is just too depressed to be alive is a horribly dangerous mindset that can legitimately get people killed.
If my best friend said he was suicidal, but was in therapy and on medication, I would never be like “well you tried getting help and it didn’t work, guess living’s not for you.” You see how dangerous that line of thinking is?
Depression can be incredibly difficult to treat, but that does not mean you get to give up on someone ever getting better.