Venting More than just a singular reason/cause for suicide

[TAW122]

It is incredibly frustrating that a lot of people when looking at the causes of why people suicide will oftenly cling onto a singular reason (if there are more than one reason) within a suicide note. I don't believe that most people commit suicide due to only one singular reason (there do exist people like that, but certainly not all of them). Most of the time, it is multitude of reasons, over an extended period of time, culminating into one ultimate, final decision.

For example, someone could have multiple things go wrong simultaneously and continuously. That "one reason" or cause may not be enough to push the person towards suicide, but it is certainly a factor contributing towards their decision of suicide. Consider that someone who been through heartbreak and hurt, spiraled into depression, then coupled with other IRL problems, financial issues, and what not, even if the one reason for suicide is heartbreak, it doesn't mean that there aren't other reasons.

Speaking of myself, I had ongoing problems such as Aspergers and autism along with social anxiety (and general anxiety) which cripple my day to day life, communication, and interaction with other people around me. There is no cure and it is a continuous problem that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. Then, combined with the fact that my music performance anxiety and nerves are fucking up my hobby. Next consider that my relations with an online friend, the ladyfriend has soured since the previous month, and other personal, philosophical, existential, environmental, and societal reasons as well. All it takes is a strong enough catalyst that would push towards actively CTB'ing.

In my case, if say the day that I CTB, I wrote the ALL the reasons, including the causes (major ones, as well as minor ones too) in great detail, some people who read the suicide note would cling onto one reason while ignoring the rest of the other causes. It is incredibly naive, short-sighted, and ignorant for them to do that. Then again, the people who have CTB'd successfully wouldn't worry about that after the fact because they are no longer around to witness any reaction or the aftermath of it. Seeing this possible scenario in advance is rather just frustrating because it means that people just don't get it even with everything spelled out in front of them. At the end of the day, after one is dead it no longer becomes an issue for them, but rather an issue for the living (people who are still alive, the bereaved). I'd just like to think of a suicide note as a way of giving a last message, to give closure, to tie loose ends, and to help people understand, however, it is up to the survivors to understand and interpret it correctly. It doesn't affect the dead as the dead are already at peace, no longer suffering.

 

[Chronicillness]

I do believe suicide to be a pre-transhumanist phenomena. We lack bliss, functional euphoria and earth-defying social connections. I think while the reasonings may be endlessly complex, the root problem is suffering. Take most forms of suffering away, and you prevent most suicides.

 

[Daffodil]

ive been writing and rewriting my suicide note. my personal tactic will be to keep things minimalist and as light as possible. not to convey my anguish. and give some instruction.

 

[WhyIsLife56]

I'd like to think ctb is my suicide note. A suicide note isn't going to be able to explain everything. They'll probably twist it or something. It definitely won't explain everything.
Suicide definitely isn't just one reason. It's a train of many events leading up to that one event: suicide.

 

[waterbottleman]

I think this is true with all sorts of things in life. People want a singular easily packaged explanation for things, but in reality things are often complicated and there are multiple factors that explain something.

I like to think of it it's as though people operate under the assumption that any variable y must be explained by a single explanatory variable x such that y = f(x).

But in reality most things cannot be explained by a single variable, but rather multiple variables such that y = f(x1,x2,...,xn) where each explanatory variable x1,x2,...,xn are part of what contribute to y.

Life and everything in it is really a multivariabled function.

If we represent y as our overall satisfaction in life we know that multiple things contribute to our overall satisfaction in life and we can represent these factors as x1,x2,...,xn. All of us as humans are trying to optimize y, we're trying to make y as large of a number as possible so we're as happy as possible.

Part of the challenge is figuring out the correct priorities for x1,x2,...,xn. The other challenge is actually having the power/ability to fulfill each independent factor.

I like to think of it anagously as it's as though we have the function y = a1x1 + a2x2 + .... + anxn where each a1,a2,...,an is the coefficient or "weight" to the respective Independent variable. You can think of the coefficients as how much we prioritize each independent variable, and all of us prioritize different things, our minds change on our priorities as we get older, often we realize we were prioritizing the wrong things in life, etc.

If you're unsatisfied with your life, you can think of it as though you have high priorities (high coefficients) for certain variables but for whatever reason those variables in your life are not where you'd like them to be (I.E each variable x takes a value between 0 and 1, the closer to 1 the more you have fulfilled that specific variable/aspect of your life, the closer to 0 the less you have fulfilled it for whatever reason it may be). Thus your satisfaction with life, the value of y, is low. If y becomes low enough you become depressed and even lower suicidal.

There are many things that contribute to my unhappiness, but I honestly cant tell what the biggest factor is. Either it's my clinical depression that makes life feel pointless and has sucked all pleasure from activities I used to enjoy, or it's my chronic loneliness when I highly value intimacy from a romantic partner. There are other smaller reasons, but those 2 are the largest for me personally.

 

[WhyIsLife56]

I do believe suicide to be a pre-transhumanist phenomena. We lack bliss, functional euphoria and earth-defying social connections. I think while the reasonings may be endlessly complex, the root problem is suffering. Take most forms of suffering away, and you prevent most suicides.

Suffering will always be a part of life, regardless of what life form you are. (plant, animal, human etc)

 

[Chronicillness]

Suffering will always be a part of life, regardless of what life form you are. (plant, animal, human etc)

To what extent for humans though? I think it will be minimalized to the point where it becomes a minor nusance, and not something that is experienced chronically, day in and day out.

 

[WhyIsLife56]

To what extent for humans though? I think it will be minimalized to the point where it becomes a minor nusance, and not something that is experienced chronically, day in and day out.

Simply because existence itself is suffering. It's all survival mechanism. If humans didn't suffer and feel pleasure, they wouldn't exist in the first place. It would've been a different kind of living being suffering in our place instead.

 

[TAW122]

I'd like to think ctb is my suicide note. A suicide note isn't going to be able to explain everything. They'll probably twist it or something. It definitely won't explain everything.
Suicide definitely isn't just one reason. It's a train of many events leading up to that one event: suicide.

Yeah sadly, that's what most of the recipients and readers of said note will interpret it as. They would never see it for what it is and would rather interpret the notes in the wrong ways. However, for the dead (the person who CTB'd) it wouldn't matter or affect him/her as he/she is no longer around the world to experience the aftermath nor suffer.

@waterbottleman Yes, your post sums it up pretty well. Life is indeed complicated and full of multiple variables. It is part of human nature to simplify things though.

 

[TAW122]

Another thing I wanted to add here is there is one singular reason/cause that would be a fast track for me towards CTB, and that would be: involuntary commitment, forced intervention, forced treatment and the like. Now wait, doesn't that contradict what you said earlier? And 1 != 2 right? Well, no it doesn't contradict what I said in the original thread and 1 = 2 in this case because the one reason/cause actually consists of two reasons (at least it's a two-part reason, so for simplicity purposes, we'll count it as two rather than one).

So with that out of the way, let me explain. Involuntary commitment, hospitalization, forced intervention, forced treatment, and similar things to that not only:
1) Violate my freedom and free will (which alone is already more than enough grounds to CTB as I would not wish to support a society or world that sanctions this barbaric and unconstitutional practice).
2) The implications and consequences (as well as fallout) coming from after the commitment and release, discharge, which include, but not limited to: hospital and medical bills, permanent health record (which shows up on background checks), loss of certain rights and privileges, stigma from community and peers, and also other negative consequences. Thus, in a sense, my life would already be worse than had I not been hospitalized against my will.

So with that said, it's basically one singular reason/cause that contains two reasons and causes (the initial action and the subsequent fallout, consequences that ensue). If I lose my means to CTB the way I want, I will (even desperately) look for other means to CTB and make it my mission to successfully CTB regardless of whether other life circumstances are going well.

 

[hatelife]

ive been writing and rewriting my suicide note. my personal tactic will be to keep things minimalist and as light as possible. not to convey my anguish. and give some instruction.

thats what I did, 3 sentences and wrote down to split my money between 3 members, and no expensive funeral

Suffering will always be a part of life, regardless of what life form you are. (plant, animal, human etc)

some suffer more than others and its like a living hell for some of us

 

[TAW122]

Bumping this topic as this is something that isn't mentioned as much. Plus, one thing I'd like to add is that nobody (very few rather) decides to CTB on just one reason or cause alone. The catalyst of tipping point could be one reason, but in most cases, they (more or less) already made up their mind and are headed towards CTB'ing. While on the outside (people who aren't that person) it looks like it is impulsive or in the moment, it most likely isn't because that person has been suffering a long time and it's usually the last straw for them/straw that breaks the camel's back.