[comprev]

Everything is a better alternative to suicide, even if your mind can’t see it at this moment.

There will be someone who you know deep down that will listen when you need to talk.

In the last month a close friend of mine lost her partner to suicide and she’s having difficulty with the grieving process. She knows she can call me any time of day and I’ll pick up, no matter what I’m doing. Only yesterday I was in an important meeting (part of the team presenting) and I received a message saying “I can’t cope any more, I just want to die.”.

Within seconds I excused myself, stepped out of the room and called her.

That 5min phone call was more important than any meeting.

[pcthrowaway]

I wish suicide wasn't so stigmatized. Sure it leaves behind survivors, but our planet includes so much suffering.

They say "suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem", but I think that can come across as dismissive of real systemic issues. People committing suicide might have been suffering for years, with no end to suffering in sight, and suicide seems like a reasonable way to just.. not continue suffering. This is why I'm really glad we at least have legal assisted suicide in Canada.

I think the truth about people dissuading people from committing suicide is that, sure, in some situations, often without even knowing the person they're talking to, they have unreasonable confidence that things will get better, and the person will eventually be glad they didn't do it.

But what if you frame it as asking someone who has been suffering for years to continue suffering for the sake of the people who know them, or for the sake of society? Instead of putting the burden on the person suffering to continue suffering, we should put the burden on society to provide real assistance for people suffering (often just basic needs like food, shelter, but often-times therapy also), and on people to provide assistance to their loved ones in need, if able.

All that being said, you seem like you are providing support for people you care about and I commend you for that. I hope OP is able to get the support they need as well, and get to a point where they are enjoying life

[naasking]

I dunno, suicide seems exactly as stigmatized as it needs to be now that euthanasia for people with terminal conditions is becoming accepted (here in Canada).

That said, I agree society has the burden to provide assistance, mental health is severely underfunded and under-researched, and the legal restrictions around drugs that could assist psychotherapy are frankly criminal. Compounds like MDMA are literally "instant hope" in a pill for people who are suffering, and tens of thousands of people would still be alive if we had been studying its use had the war on drugs never started.

[pcthrowaway]

MAID isn't just for people with terminal conditions to be clear.

> That said, I agree society has the burden to provide assistance, mental health is severely underfunded and under-researched, and the legal restrictions around drugs that could assist psychotherapy are frankly criminal

It's not just clinical mental health issues (though I agree with all of this too). Society is massively failing enormous groups of people, perhaps the majority, by not enacting radical policy changes that make it feasible to have a roof over one's head, eat, and maybe have time for leisure. We have an epidemic of homelessness here in Vancouver that keeps getting worse every day, with no relief in sight for people on hard times.

Working a full time job at minimum wage won't even afford you an average priced 1-bedroom, let alone food. People manage to get by with roommates, but finding house shares is harder and harder. Here's what ~80 hours of work at a minimum wage job will allow you to rent: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-sro-tour . That's half your monthly pay, and that's assuming you're able to work full time, don't have medical/dental/therapy/physio expenses that prevent you from working full time, and can find work. With no kitchen and rising food costs, the other half of your paycheck is going to food.

Contrary to popular belief, not that many people actually starved during the great depression; suicide was a larger cause of death at the time, and our suicide rate now is probably not much better.

Rather than telling people contemplating suicide that "things will get better" we should be holding our politicians accountable for the systems failing people. We don't know that things will get better, and I don't think it's fair to tell people to just continue suffering indefinitely on the off chance they might improve, when there's no plan to actually bring about those changes that would improve their quality of life.