I'm all for helping those who want to be helped and for doing whatever we can to prevent suicidal people from harming innocent victims in their plans, but if someone's life has become so completely intolerable that they'd rather be dead than go on living, I'm going to presume they know the value of their own life better than I do. If my response seems uncaring or callous keep in mind that I live in a culture which routinely tolerates and forgets an almost unfathomable number of mass shootings and murder-suicides.Anything you can do to stop somebody taking their own life is worth trying.
It can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome....just like combat veteran's....Nice succinct article...effectively conveyed the message.
The drivers/engineers are the overlooked "victims" ... at least by the public.
I have since shared it.
Human lives do not have a single universal value. Each life can range from amazingly magnificent to horribly tragic. If a person's own life has become an unbearable burden to themselves it makes no sense to force them to stay alive for the benefit of their family and friends, let alone random bystanders and business associates.A person who is mentally ill cannot properly evaluate the value of human life.
Well, you could criminalize suicidal thinking and lock those people up and put them in solitary confinement so they simply cannot ever kill themselves. I find that to be a horrible idea devoid of any sympathy or compassion, but it helps explain why broad terms like "anything" tend to make for bad policy.I agree with the locomotive engineer, that "Anything you can do to stop somebody taking their own life is worth trying. It's better to try something and if you get it wrong then at least you tried."
I had postpartum depression and anxiety (still get anxiety on rare occasions). Neither are pleasant things. When I had my depression, I was known to say that it was depressing be depressed. Luckily mine was not as bad as it could have been and the meds helped but did not take it completely away. Also, postpartum depression usually goes away on its own within a year.I think it is because most people who do not suffer from mental illness can not conceive of it as real. Especially when the person in questions illness doesnt have them thinking they are Napoleon or something obviously off like that.
If you have a mental illness of some kind, you can actually appreciate what things like depression, anxiety, and neurosis are.
For me not therapeutic but educating others. I never hid my depression from anyone.It surprises me that people are bearing some very personal things on this not-so-anonymous forum. I hope that in some way, this a therapeutic for them and wish them well....
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