[Demonic]

Last week at school, during lunch hour, the psychology teacher came in and somehow started up the conversation that she thought suicide was a selfish act. (I go to a very small school so students and teachers tend to end up in the same room at lunch hours)

At the time we all pretty much just talked about it until lessons started again and nothing more came of it but I wanna know what you guys think.

Personally, I'm not sure where I stand on this.
I know people who have attempted suicide and I can't help but sympathies with them.
If something brings a persons life to a halt to the point where they feel nothing is left in the world for them and they try to kill them then I guess they have good reason. But I can't stand the thought of death and knowing that people try to end their lives.
If I could I would do my very best to prevent it. But by no means do I think the act is selfish.

What do you guys think? My thoughts are kinda... mixed I guess.

~Demy

[Nil]

I wouldn't consider it selfish.

selfish - (of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.

"lacking consideration for others". Someone who is suicidal feels like no one is on their side, that they're alone. If no one's is considering them, who do they have to take into consideration? In their minds at least. It may seem selfish to a 3rd party, but in the eyes of someone suicidal, their motives aren't selfish.

"concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure" I guess you're profiting by being released from reality's hardships. But I wouldn't dare say that someone committed suicide solely for their own profit and pleasure. Depression is a mental illness and most aren't thinking straight. A lot of them think they're doing everyone around them a favor. Hardly selfish.

[Demonic]

I wouldn't consider it selfish.

selfish - (of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.

"lacking consideration for others". Someone who is suicidal feels like no one is on their side, that they're alone. If no one's is considering them, who do they have to take into consideration? In their minds at least. It may seem selfish to a 3rd party, but in the eyes of someone suicidal, their motives aren't selfish.

"concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure" I guess you're profiting by being released from reality's hardships. But I wouldn't dare say that someone committed suicide solely for their own profit and pleasure. Depression is a mental illness and most aren't thinking straight. A lot of them think they're doing everyone around them a favor. Hardly selfish.

I agree with this.
Totally gonna show this to my psych teacher. :devil:

[Kureo]

It really depends on which party you are in a case, and what your point of views are. In the eyes of someone willing to commit suicide, the act itself isn't always considered selfish or even a change at all. People have different reasons to commit suicide, and not all of them are because they feel alone or left by everyone else. People can commit suicide out of hatred for example, which is an utterly selfish way of ending your own life. As you can do it with the meaning to cause as much suffering as possible to another person or several people at once. ( At the cost of your own life, though this requires deep hatred. ) Then we have the more traditional reason for committing suicide, which is depression and loneliness. Those that have experienced loneliness over a longer period of time, knows that in most cases that it is one of the most painful things in the world. ( In other cases it may be rather relaxing or a perfect situation for someone. )

People that commit suicide out of loneliness does not think of it as a selfish act, they think of it as a favor for people. As they are already left alone, all alone so they think that people don't want them there to start with. Most cases is that they aren't really left alone, they just don't get the required amount of attention they mentally need. What I am trying to say here mainly, is that there is no correct answer to if suicide in general is selfish or not. It depends on the reason for committing such an act.

[Demonic]

It really depends on which party you are in a case, and what your point of views are. In the eyes of someone willing to commit suicide, the act itself isn't always considered selfish or even a change at all. People have different reasons to commit suicide, and not all of them are because they feel alone or left by everyone else. People can commit suicide out of hatred for example, which is an utterly selfish way of ending your own life. As you can do it with the meaning to cause as much suffering as possible to another person or several people at once. ( At the cost of your own life, though this requires deep hatred. ) Then we have the more traditional reason for committing suicide, which is depression and loneliness. Those that have experienced loneliness over a longer period of time, knows that in most cases that it is one of the most painful things in the world. ( In other cases it may be rather relaxing or a perfect situation for someone. )

People that commit suicide out of loneliness does not think of it as a selfish act, they think of it as a favor for people. As they are already left alone, all alone so they think that people don't want them there to start with. Most cases is that they aren't really left alone, they just don't get the required amount of attention they mentally need. What I am trying to say here mainly, is that there is no correct answer to if suicide in general is selfish or not. It depends on the reason for committing such an act.

You have a very good point there and I think I agree with you.
If it's done in pure spite of someone else then of course it's unorthodox.

[Daniel]

It really depends on which party you are in a case, and what your point of views are. In the eyes of someone willing to commit suicide, the act itself isn't always considered selfish or even a change at all. People have different reasons to commit suicide, and not all of them are because they feel alone or left by everyone else. People can commit suicide out of hatred for example, which is an utterly selfish way of ending your own life. As you can do it with the meaning to cause as much suffering as possible to another person or several people at once. ( At the cost of your own life, though this requires deep hatred. ) Then we have the more traditional reason for committing suicide, which is depression and loneliness. Those that have experienced loneliness over a longer period of time, knows that in most cases that it is one of the most painful things in the world. ( In other cases it may be rather relaxing or a perfect situation for someone. )

People that commit suicide out of loneliness does not think of it as a selfish act, they think of it as a favor for people. As they are already left alone, all alone so they think that people don't want them there to start with. Most cases is that they aren't really left alone, they just don't get the required amount of attention they mentally need. What I am trying to say here mainly, is that there is no correct answer to if suicide in general is selfish or not. It depends on the reason for committing such an act.

Agreed. You can't compare, for example, a kamikaze with someone feeling lonely and without any reasons left to keep living.
This really depends on the person, each of them.

[Feat]

You cannot call someone selfish for feeling alone and not wanting to be here.

[Four]

In my honest opinion, suicide can be both selfish and non-selfish. In modern times however, the majority of people committing suicide I would consider selfish and weak. I believe it's selfish because they are committing suicide over petty little things like bullying and stress. I find this quite ridiculous, because almost everyone is bullied, so I find them quite week for doing so. It's also selfish because they're creating all different kinds of emotions for those who outlive them, such as sadness, anger, and a variety of different things. It affects those who knew about the problems and tried to help even more (First hand experience.) The only time I would deem it nonselfish is when they truly have nothing to live for; Old age, Asylum, stuck in jail, No family or friends, Homeless, and things of that sort.

[Flippy]

I think it depends, if people care about you and they want you to live and you just go off and kill your self, then that's pretty selfish.

[Ash]

I think, if you are seriously ill or have no-one in your life you should have the right to end it all.