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It is interesting that, when someone is suffering from enormous physical pain, such as from a terminal illness like cancer, suicide is often seen as a justifiable route. And yet, if that enormous pain is mental, rather than physical, their inability to cope is often viewed as weakness, selfish ... the easy way out.
I think that sometimes we forget that such mental anguish is often no easier to live with in the overwhelming pain-sense, but because it is less (for lack of a better word) tangible, there is often a more "suck it up and deal with it" attitude from outside observers.
The difference, of course, is that in many cases, there are resources, medication, etc. that might be able to truly help the mental sufferer. And we can't understand why they don't take better advantage of those resources. And yet, from my experience in dealing with a person who was severely depressed, telling them that there is help available is something that they perceive as absolutely inconceivable. It is quite possible to get to the point to where you think your problems are so severe that you are completely beyond being helped.
Making matters worse is that, quite often when someone tries to tell us that they are severely depressed, the only thing we can think of saying is "things will get better." But to a sufferer of extreme depression, those words of hope are absurdly simplistic.
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