Isn't it weird that pain can make you suicidal?

[yellowjester]

A mechanism created by the body to preserve itself becomes the source of it's own destruction. I would almost say it's poetic, if it wasn't such a sick joke.

 

[ijustwishtodie]

No, it isn't weird at all. Just because pain is a mechanism created by biology for us to survive doesn't mean that the mechanism was created well. Biology is flawed and the pain mechanism is flawed as well due to it being able to reach extreme amounts that can cause suicidality

 

[Ihoujin]

I would only add that it's so when the pain become too much.

Good thinking. I would say that suicidal ideation is a mind's defense mechanism. There is a breaking point when your organism wanna protect you from too much suffering so it kills itself.

But there are good news. We don't have to be mind or instinct slaves. There is a possiblity to rise above these instincts.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I guess it's not pain on its own though. Animals seem to struggle on despite being horribly maimed. What I definitely find curious is that our brains have developed to a level where they can overide natural instincts. Antinatilism and suicide are in direct opposition to our core drives. We don't actually even need physical pain either. A thought process can lead to suicide.

 

[yellowjester]

No, it isn't weird at all. Just because pain is a mechanism created by biology for us to survive doesn't mean that the mechanism was created well. Biology is flawed and the pain mechanism is flawed as well due to it being able to reach extreme amounts that can cause suicidality

I wouldn't say it's a flawed mechanism -- it would never have evolved to be this intense if it wasn't necessary for our survival. And if the pain itself was the problem, we would have died out a long long time ago. It must be our rapidly expanding condciousness, and the fact that chronic pain didn't exist before civilizatiom because you would simply not have made it for that long if you were sick or injured anyways, so our brains never had to adapt until very recently.

It's a double-edged sword though, that's for sure.

(I wish there was more literature on the subject. It really helps me sometimes, thinking about pain in scientific terms.)