Man Commits Suicide at DLH

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

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.

Personally, I see no difference between mental illness and cancer other then the part of the body they effect. If you have diabetes, you treat your insulin levels, if you have depression you treat serotonin levels (simplified, but you get my point). Why is the brain and it's complex chemical workings any different than those of the liver, kidneys, blood, etc?

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

If you have diabetes, you treat your insulin levels, if you have depression you treat serotonin levels (simplified, but you get my point). Why is the brain and it's complex chemical workings any different than those of the liver, kidneys, blood, etc?

Because, as MBC pointed out, mental afflications can affect your mental ability to seek treatment. Physical afflications that have no mental component do not. Rarely do serious physical afflications have zero mental component, however ... so those, too, can affect the ability to seek treatment.

Not nearly so much, I would suggest, as a mental afflication as serious as imminently suicidal.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Personally, I see no difference between mental illness and cancer other then the part of the body they effect. If you have diabetes, you treat your insulin levels, if you have depression you treat serotonin levels (simplified, but you get my point). Why is the brain and it's complex chemical workings any different than those of the liver, kidneys, blood, etc?

Well, ISM pretty much said what I would have, but since this was addressed to me ...

Treating those insulin levels is a rational response to the problem. Treating serotonin levels (simplified is fine ) is also a rational response. Unfortunately, you are asking someone who has, in many cases, lost the ability for rational thought, to seek out, and stick to, this treatment. And that just doesn't always work.

We found out later that my roommate, unknown to everyone else, had been taking anti-depressants for the past year. He stopped, without telling anyone, when he was laid off and was no longer able to afford them. When the choice was between rent and medication, he chose rent. It wasn't a good choice to make and a month later, he wasn't able to pay rent either. At that point, he was looking at not having a place to live and his need for medication had taken the backburner. Were there other options available to him? Most likely. Was he able to think clearly enough to seek out this help. Apparently not. And since he didn't know us all that well, he apparently didn't feel comfortable enough to cry out for help.

The last day I saw him, he was in the best mood I had seen him in for quite some time. Looking back, I think he had finally found something to be happy about, which was putting an end to his suffering. And I think he found the only solution that he thought might actually work.