the graceful exit
Feb. 22nd, 2013 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanSomething I was thinking about today.
(It involves death & suicide so take note if those things disturb you.)
Most of the people I know are sympathetic to the idea that a person has the right to end their life under certain conditions. The typical scenario being where one has a fatal illness such as cancer, where all medical options have been exhausted and when the quality of life can no longer be maintained in a way that the individual finds meaningful. In fact a number of people have told me that they plan to commit suicide if they ever find themselves in such a situation, preferably before they are completely incapacitated by pain and physical deterioration.
I can't say if this is typical of society at large, but most of the people I interact with don't have a problem with that.
So why do so many people have the exact opposite reaction when it comes to mental illness?
I was thinking about the friends I have lost to suicide over the years. In a couple of cases it was well known that they suffered horribly from depression that was resistant to all medical intervention. They struggled for years, decades. And when they finally gave up, their friends were all furious with them.
I don't really get the difference between the two reactions. Giving up on an incurable painful illness that impacts the body is obviously being measured on a different scale than giving up on an incurable painful illness that impacts the mind. And I don't really get why. (I get why people would put them on a different scale when it comes to making the decision for themselves, it's their friends' reactions that I'm quizzing.)
Anybody think they can explain the thought process there?
NOTE: Not considering suicide as an option for me. Just in case anybody misunderstands the purpose of this conversation.
(It involves death & suicide so take note if those things disturb you.)
Most of the people I know are sympathetic to the idea that a person has the right to end their life under certain conditions. The typical scenario being where one has a fatal illness such as cancer, where all medical options have been exhausted and when the quality of life can no longer be maintained in a way that the individual finds meaningful. In fact a number of people have told me that they plan to commit suicide if they ever find themselves in such a situation, preferably before they are completely incapacitated by pain and physical deterioration.
I can't say if this is typical of society at large, but most of the people I interact with don't have a problem with that.
So why do so many people have the exact opposite reaction when it comes to mental illness?
I was thinking about the friends I have lost to suicide over the years. In a couple of cases it was well known that they suffered horribly from depression that was resistant to all medical intervention. They struggled for years, decades. And when they finally gave up, their friends were all furious with them.
I don't really get the difference between the two reactions. Giving up on an incurable painful illness that impacts the body is obviously being measured on a different scale than giving up on an incurable painful illness that impacts the mind. And I don't really get why. (I get why people would put them on a different scale when it comes to making the decision for themselves, it's their friends' reactions that I'm quizzing.)
Anybody think they can explain the thought process there?
NOTE: Not considering suicide as an option for me. Just in case anybody misunderstands the purpose of this conversation.