RE: suicide = weak? 02-22-2013, 10:01 AM
#21
Replying in general, and specially to Coder-san:
This may be a somehow difficult topic. However, the problem is: when a person commits suicide, extreme cases such as euthanasia aside, it is usually not a matter of will or willpower. It is not that this person reaches his/her (I'm using the male pronoun from now on)decision thoroughly, or that he's a coward or not. Generally, sucide attepts, be they successful or not, come from people who are in a state of depression.
And here we come to the real problem: a depression is an illness. A true illness. It is not a matter of just being sad and not being able to overcome it. In fact, one of the most extended definitions for depression amongst psychiatrists and psychologists is 'sadness without a cause'. If your father just died a week ago, and you're crying, that's not a depression, that's normal. But, if your father died three years ago, and you still cry every day, yes, that is pathological. The same way, if you spend a week crying and nothing bad has happened, you have a problem.
So, it may be that someone had a problem and, from it, he developed a depression. However, a person can also spawn a depression with no exterior cause. Depression is not just a thing 'of the mind' or of 'not thinking properly'. It has to do with neurotransmitter, substances that act in the brain the same way insulin acts in everyone's cells for dealing with sugar. Saying beaing depressed is a person's fault is the same as saying having diabetes is the patient's fault. Like hell.
Yes, emotions come from the brain. And the brain's activities determine one's feelings and emotions. And how one feels can be trained the same way one can train his muscles for running faster. But that's limited. No matter how much I try, and how much willpower I have, I will never run half as fast as Usain Bolt. Nor swim as well as Michael Phelps. One can go to therapy, can try to have a positive approach to life, can try to deal with everything... But, if his limbic system starts acting funny and his serotonin, dopamin, norepinephrin and GABA neurotransmitters start acting the wrong way, he will most likely commit suicide if he is not treated by a doctor (and a competent one at that). The same way a person who suffers from meningitis will die if not given the proper medicines.
And of course it is NOT his fault and NOT a weakness.
This may be a somehow difficult topic. However, the problem is: when a person commits suicide, extreme cases such as euthanasia aside, it is usually not a matter of will or willpower. It is not that this person reaches his/her (I'm using the male pronoun from now on)decision thoroughly, or that he's a coward or not. Generally, sucide attepts, be they successful or not, come from people who are in a state of depression.
And here we come to the real problem: a depression is an illness. A true illness. It is not a matter of just being sad and not being able to overcome it. In fact, one of the most extended definitions for depression amongst psychiatrists and psychologists is 'sadness without a cause'. If your father just died a week ago, and you're crying, that's not a depression, that's normal. But, if your father died three years ago, and you still cry every day, yes, that is pathological. The same way, if you spend a week crying and nothing bad has happened, you have a problem.
So, it may be that someone had a problem and, from it, he developed a depression. However, a person can also spawn a depression with no exterior cause. Depression is not just a thing 'of the mind' or of 'not thinking properly'. It has to do with neurotransmitter, substances that act in the brain the same way insulin acts in everyone's cells for dealing with sugar. Saying beaing depressed is a person's fault is the same as saying having diabetes is the patient's fault. Like hell.
Yes, emotions come from the brain. And the brain's activities determine one's feelings and emotions. And how one feels can be trained the same way one can train his muscles for running faster. But that's limited. No matter how much I try, and how much willpower I have, I will never run half as fast as Usain Bolt. Nor swim as well as Michael Phelps. One can go to therapy, can try to have a positive approach to life, can try to deal with everything... But, if his limbic system starts acting funny and his serotonin, dopamin, norepinephrin and GABA neurotransmitters start acting the wrong way, he will most likely commit suicide if he is not treated by a doctor (and a competent one at that). The same way a person who suffers from meningitis will die if not given the proper medicines.
And of course it is NOT his fault and NOT a weakness.