"Suicidal people don't really want to die"

[rationaldeath]

I found this great comment on reddit talking about suicide and regret:

 

[Zzzzz]

Good quote. I think that someone can want to die but not have the capacity or strength to end their life. So they are basically stuck in life until something kills them. People want many things in life but are unable to obtain them. Imo not wanting to live means one of two things probably. The person wants to die but doesn't want to really say it. Or two They want their life and circumstances to change drastically.

 

[FuneralCry]

Many anti choice people can be very delusional. Suicide is very difficult, as of course we are programmed to survive, the survival instinct can be determined to keep us suffering. If suicide was easier, I would be already gone. I certainly do want to die, I have never wanted to be alive but yet I am held back by how difficult ctb actually is. For me there is a lack of peaceful and reliable way to exit and the fear of failure.

 

[Rational man]

There's reference to 9/11 people jumping out of windows!. The analogy of a dying person comes.to mind. The thought of dying slowly and in agony i saw in my Mother. But This time, I have options with the knowledge I have about my fate.

 

[Capsicum_Corral]

Seems accurate. IMO, most suicidal people are just wanting to end their pain and unbearable (to them) conditions. If one could suddenly have a joyful life filled with wonderful experiences, how many suicidal people would want to end that?

 

[MelancholyMagic]

"Suicidal people don't really want to die" is usually paired with "they just want the pain to stop".
Well, duh. If life was all rainbows and unicorns, the thought of suicide wouldn't even cross our minds. But it's not like that - not for anyone, really, even if they more or less are "happy". And suicide is really, really good at stopping pain. It stops all the pain now AND preemptively stops all the pain I (or anyone else) would have otherwise experienced. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

 

[demuic]

I agree, that is very well put.

That's why I hate when someone just mindlessly says "most people regret it after a suicide attempt." It doesn't take into account the context whatsoever. Very few people are going to be calm and happy while committing suicide especially if they are not using a peaceful method, and during that time the survival instinct will take over, emotions are high, and the brain can convince you of anything to make you want to live.. and then when that moment is over, you're back to where you started from wanting suicide again. People will ""save"" someone from a suicide attempt and then not give a shit when whatever made them want to commit suicide in the first place still hasn't been solved or can't be solved and leave them to rot, or try again later. I don't know if the suicide statistics ever follow up with people after an attempt to see if magically their suicidal thoughts have disappeared or if they ever try again and succeed. I haven't seen that much.

In the case of "they just want the pain to stop" wanting the pain to stop is the equivalent to wanting death for me, because that is the way for the pain to stop, and for many people that is the only way. Because any alternatives are physically impossible, and despite what many people thinking sitting around for the rest of your life waiting for a miracle is a fool's errand.

 

[NormaJeane]

I found this great comment on reddit talking about suicide and regret:

You only know yourself if you want to die or not.

 

[9BBN]

Doctors are trained and taught that suicidal ideation is inherently a mental illness. I think that's largely because of this missed nuance. I would agree that anyone who "fetishizes" death is of questionable sound mind, but most suicidal ideation is not like that. It's a simple desire to not be. Anyone who could empathize with the suicidal would understand that most of the time it's a rational response to fearing or hating the experience of life, due to trauma, physical illness, etc. It's only really irrational if the suicidal person didn't seriously consider recovery first. Then there's the myth that suicidal people don't want to recover...

All the myths just compound each other don't they.

 

[Suicideisgreat]

Didn't read anything but the title but if I could choose between an enjoyable life and suicide I would choose an enjoyable life.

 

[myopybyproxy]

Die = end suffering for my own consciousness, and anyone who would otherwise be inflicted with the burden of interacting with me and pretending to care about me and put up with my narcissistic and selfish bullshit, as well as preventing any potential offspring from suffering

By and large, suicidal people do want the pain to stop. That is achieved through death.

 

[Soulless Angel]

I have heard this many times, yes that saying is true and for many the only way for the pain to stop is by ending one's own existence, some times there is simply no other way