Topic: Suicide. Please comment in as much detail as you feel comfortable with.

some of these more true at different times in my life. I've lost two very good friends to suicide, and been at ground zero of the emotional tac-nuke that results. wasn't pretty. So, I take the issue rather personally, probably too personally.

I have lost friends to suicide, and it's certainly painful, but I would not for a moment question their right to end their lives. I feel that it is inappropriate for society to require anyone to go on living when they no longer wish to. I'm in favor of Vonnegut-style "Ethical Suicide Parlors".

I only think in suicide as a method to avoid a sure, near and horrible death. Some other situations have usually better solutions, IMHO.

I have lost several good friends to suicide and can't help getting really pissed at them, it comes and goes. I can understand the pain that they had and just wish they had thought there was another choice.

Always been a thought in my mind when I was a teenager. I see what a mistake it would have been if I carried it out. But I could have never done it. Too difficult...

i checked a bunch off, including the last one. i'm ok with checking off little boxes, but when it comes to discussing certain of these questions in an open-ended manner, i'm outta here.

I've never seriously contemplated it, but I dated someone who (I later found out) tried a year before we went out. That was damn scary for me when I found out, and I'm glad she wasn't successful, she is too. I want to say that one's life is one's own, and if they want to take that away from themselves, it's their choice...however, I see that as a rather short sighted view. As an athiest, I see nothing after death for the person...a complete neutral, which, by definition can not be bad. However, the pain for everyone left behind, all their loved ones is horrible, much worse than the nothingness being experienced by the person. Thus it is definitly a selfish act, however, who am I to say that it is at all times inadmissable? "There's the Rub. For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause."- the mangled memories of my high school Hamlet..

I think everyone has felt suicidal at one point in their lives. As far as I am concerned, anyone who says "no" is a dang liar. I think for most it occures in adolescence and early adulthood. It shows great depression. I have thought about a lot of different ways that I could kill myself (when I was feeling suicidal). I would try to imagine the reaction from people when they heard I was dead. Would they be sorry? I thought about how my parents would feel finding me in a pool of blood. I think I liked that idea because part of me wanted to punish them. I think my fear of death is what kept me alive at that time in my life. Now, no matter how tough things get I don't feel suicidal. I am glad to be alive and I try to enjoy each day. I have never had therapy or called a hotline. I put that sometimes suicide is a good choice, but I think it is only good for people who are terminally ill. Once they get to the point where they are suffering, why prolong their agony. It is very sad, yes, but why not let them go with grace.

Only one attempt, and that was 20+ years ago. I had been through a lot of trauma in many areas of my life, and just wanted to get away. I was on tranquillizers, and just took lots of them all at once. I think the medication made me feel worse, not better. Already partly 'out of it' the pills sent me over the edge. Or maybe that's refusing to accept responsibility. Anyway, with a thyroid condition now, I suspect that may have affected my brain then too. I think therapy helped not really manage the suicidal feelings, as much as it helped me identify my feelings. I wasn't depressed, hurt and suicidal at all. I was very very angry. At a lot of people. I have known a suicidal person or two, but I can only be friends with them a short time, then I have to drop them. Too many times, the suicide threats are used by them as attention-getting, manipulative means of controlling others. That's something I have to stay away from. Euthanasia I agree with. We won't let an animal suffer needlessly. Humans deserve the same respect.

I got to watch the entire thing play out with a relative and it made it really difficult to think about it for myself. I can see circumstances where it might be valid (to escape serious pain or slow degenerating illness) but as an escape, you wind up shoving off all of your bad karma onto other people, generally the people you care about the most.

I don't really remember all of it. I have tried 3 or 4 times. I use to think of it a lot. The time I can remember was when I put a gun to my head. This gun was always loaded. I pulled back the hammer and pulled the trigger, after that I put it down and cried and cried knowing that I would have ended my life. I haven't attempted since then. It still crossed my mind, but not much. IT IS A PERMANT SOLUTION TO A TEMPORARY PROBLEM. I really belive that now. It has been about 7 years since I have done that.

I plan to commit suicide sometime in the future. Eijahblue: I am quite serious about it.I want to commit suicide sometime before 35,and I will be REALLY disappointed if I don't.

Too stigmatized. Ethical Suicide Parlors.

There is a good site dealing with this issue at http://suicidal.com/suicideprevention. I'd like to add two points to ponder: 1. Why is physical pain or deterioration widely considered a better reason to commit suicide than emotional pain or progressive mental deterioration? Emotional suffering can be just as intractable as a terminal illness. 2. We have the drugs available to almost completely wipe out physical pain in the terminally ill. The problem is doctors who are unwilling to prescribe the necessary doses and/or types of medication. Mozzer: seriously? Why? How do you know now? Maybe you are just kidding, but it's upsetting to hear.

Suicide is a very dangerous topic. There are people who think that is the only way out. I had a friend who really thought that and once slit her wrists. She still has the scars. She never realized that there are people around her who care about her and would help her with whatever she needed. We need to becareful with this topic.

The only thing I have against suicide is that people can still lead very happy lives after depression or sadness. It doesn't rain everyday. Also I've seen the people affected by a suicide. It's devastating to the family.

I think I gained some kind of quiet confidence through out the "bad years," by knowing that if it got "too bad" I could stop it all. The notion, and the repeated contemplation of exactly how I could do it with the most efficiency, kept me from feeling trapped. I would never have "threatened" or even told anyone of my plans, during those years, because it was my secret "back door." I would have been terrified if I had been put in a place in which those options were specifically and intentionally removed from me. Those days are over now, and I doubt any of you who knew me then were aware that I would stand for hours in the winter on the Mass Ave. bridge with a back-pack full of bricks.

1 time.. several people i know also did it or tried it, including a couple girlfriends. i suppose i am jsut waiting to buy a gun and do it right, at some point. i have no friends or family to worry about.

When I was younger, tried to kill myself, with pills! Am thankful I wasn't successful! My best friend killed herself after her boyfriend beat her up and she miscarried their child! Gosh, I miss her spark!

Meds help to - chemical imbalance

I was always calm until I got to college. Then 17 years of building up caught up on me. I got over it in a few years, but those few were rough... I could go on and on about both myself and others but I won't.

The option of suicide helped keep me sane as a teenager. Whenever things got really bad, I'd think, would killing myself be better than this? The answer was always no. This isn't what I think of as a "typical" contemplation of suicide. I was just honestly evaluating all my options.
**topper: Exactly!

My view is that it is a personal choice, and it may be right for you. For the most part it seems to be over glamorized by the media. I do not feel it is morally wrong. Certain cirmcumstances may warrant it. sometimes it may be a cry for help, or a plea for attention. if it is a case that falls into that category, then it isn't right. I will however respect someones wishes if they really feel that it is their only option. I will mourn the person as I would for any death, but I will not feel guilty because it was a suicide (any more than I would feel guilty for a heart attack or death from natural causes). This doesn't adequately express my view, but it gets part of my feelings across.

I've been pretty stressed lately, and the thought has crossed my mind that if I killed myself, I just wouldn't have to deal anymore. But I don't really want to die, I just want the stessy stuff to go away, and I know that while it might suck right now, if I hang in there things will get better. I have a great deal of trouble imagining myself ever not seeing any other way out, no matter how bad things get. I think suicide is often due to a lack of perpspective - you just can't see over the walls that are trapping you. I do think people have the right to end their own lives, for whatever reason, but I don't think it's a great idea, and I think it is one of the worst things you can do to those left behind.

People often talk of suicide as hurting the ones we leave behind, but sometimes people kill themselves because there is no one else to leave behind.

Sometimes I wonder how I will go on feeling as empty as I do, and those are the worst times for me. Because if I have no purpose in my life, then why keep living and being a drain on world resources and others around me?