Should Depressed People Be Helped To Kill Themselves?

I don't think anybody is arguing that it can always be easily treated with drugs and therapy. Many people struggle for years trying to get medication that will work for them or a therapist that can help. But there is always going to the question at the back of society's mind: "Should we let one kill themselves when there's still a reasonable possibility that a depressed person might be able to get a little more balance in his or her life?" I think that your story about your buddy highlighted the importance of knowing when enough is enough but that possibility is always going to make this a very touchy and difficult issue.

To clarify my own position, I wasn't implying that the woman in this story never sought psychiatric help but simply acknowledged the possibility that she could still find adequate treatment. I've known people who were hopelessly depressed and nothing was working and then they found the right combination of medication and therapy. Of course this may not apply to this woman, but it's still something to consider when talking about depression and assisted suicide.

Well all this discussion is certainly heavy. In the mind of some the terminally ill person is "entitled" to their feelings of hopelessness and despair while a person which is "healthy" aside from suffering from, lets say, depression "isn't entitled" to go to those extremes [a person who suffers from depression is not healthy of course, at least not mentally].

**** "selfish". It's also selfish to ask someone to live in constant pain, yet that's what everyone keeps bringing up. There's plenty of selfishness on all sides here, dude.

Granted, I'm certainly not saying that you should kill yourself. It just pisses me the **** off how society looks at someone who's constantly suffering and then tells them to keep on suffering so that the rest of us don't get sad when they're gone. And then when that person finally can't take any more suffering and decides to die, we make that person out to be the asshole. **** that.

In my opinion, my body is my own and I'm free to do with it as I please. If I wanna kill myself I should be able to do it and that be the end of it [lets leave the "but your family is affected" part for another day]. Of course, the story OP is referring to takes place in Belgium, I'm not an expert on international guns laws but I will take a guess and say they are restrictive to say the least.

Which of course is a material difference when talking about this on a US context discussion because of the easier access to guns compared to other countries. But is that an implicit acceptance of the US laws? "Hey man, not only can you defend yourself against intruders but you can also kill yourself if you feel like it!!!" I don't think that's what's intended but it is pretty much the de facto state of things.

One of the main problem that arise are legal. For example there are some complications regarding insurance compensation if the person dies as a result of committing suicide.

In terms of if the state should sanction it or not I guess one of the main obstacle would be the fear of this becoming statistically more prevalent compared to whatever the numbers are now. Would it lead to a significant increase of suicides? I don't think so. Getting to actually attempt to commit suicide, let alone even seriously contemplating suicide is a devastating leap.

But to even get close to legislation ["assisted suicide" is still an enormous taboo topic in many US states] would require, at least in the US, further secularization of society. Religious folks would have none of this if they have any say about it and they do.

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TLDR: You can kill yourself if you want but legal problems arise from it. US should first agree in favor of "assisted suicide" laws before even contemplating something as "radical" as this.

It's ultimately the decision of the person whether or not they want to take their own life. I, however, feel that there is always a better way to deal with it. I've never had hardcore depression, so I can't speak from any experience, but you only get one shot at life. Even if it sucks and you can't control your feelings, i.e., depression, I still feel like there has to be something worth living for. It's ingrained in us as humans - to survive.

Perhaps this woman didn't seek out all possible avenues? Maybe there's a method outside of drugs and therapy that would give her that hope she so desperately needs to survive.

Yeah, I remember watching a documentary about a guy who survived a gunshot to the head. He said it felt like a hot needle piercing your head. I hate needles.

funny how somebody from the us is calling belgians radical

I rofl'd

If people want to die painlessly , they should have that option, end of story.

If you have a decent gun and point it right, it is guaranteed death. People mess up by eating the bullet or going under up, instead of aiming at the temple or other key areas.

If they can't kill themselves, by themselves, then they are putting too much thought into it and might need to rethink it. However, if someone is unable to physically end their lives, then if they ask for it, 100% yes they should get help to do what is best for them.

That doesn't help depression, that just proves that they couldn't do anything about it to stop it...it's best to get rid of depression if anything!!! Go out, find someone to f***ing have sex with, party hard, do anything to stopped being depressed.

@mingmao3046: That table is scary, if it is saying what I think it is - that a shotgun to the head is lethal after 1.72 minutes - that means for nearly 2 minutes you are aware of the fact that you just blew yourself away? I must be reading that wrong...

I think it's absolutely insane and it does not show belgium in a very good light.

The government should not help a 24 year old girl to die just because she has some mental issues. They can't stop her from doing it herself. But it shows a very sick society when they actually grants her help.

I agree that it doesn't put them in good light. I think they're trying to approach this with good intentions but are confused as a society and went off the rails in their attempt to figure out ways to help ease the pain off people.

I don't know whether or not strong recreational drugs are allowed for medicinal use around the globe. But if not, they should really consider allowing people to exercise such option instead of just killing them.

So lets just induce people into a perpetual state of stupor? What kind of life is that.

What other methods of suicide are less painful and death more ensured than gunshots?

So ask people in this thread, how much is too much? This lady is 24. Is we implement ALL you suggestion in treatment: the absolute best psychiatric and psychological help in the world (forget Belgium), if we drug her with cocaine, heroine, LSD etc. etc. etc., we acupuncture, whatever the hell you wanna try. For 5, 10, 20, 30 years and she still wanna go through with it, when would say it is ok to help her do what she wants?

What is a jail? Is she to be confine to her body for the rest of whatever pity and so called because some of can't let go? There isn't an obligation to live. Is living just the state of not being dead or is it something more?

You may have misinterpreted what I meant. It would "radical" according to the US perspective, but I personally don't see it that way.

Jumping off a tall building head first I think.

The few seconds it takes you to hit the ground is mental torture (and that's worse than any physical pain IMO). And you're fucked if you change your mind in that few seconds.

Who cares? the issue here is that of course the government shouldn't help an otherwise healthy young girl to end it at only 24. If she wants to end it, there are plenty of ways to do it and if she really wanted to go, she would have taken them by now. but as she says she couldn't do it because in the end, someone is left behind.

How her life is going to be is up to her and the professional medical staff.

1 - Its her choice: If she is sufering there is nothing else to do.

2 - If no one can/will help here to have a better life , then i think its ok.

Man , i feel for the guy that will have to take her life , she may say its ok but still , if it where me i can never take a persons life.

ps:**** the dad!

@bmanva: This discussion is so morbid lol

But yeah you're probably right. I'd take the bullet

If she had genuinely wanted to die from childhood, surely she would have found a way by now?

Depression can be a lot more serious than people see it, you have to experience it to even comprehend what it is like. The word depression gets thrown around a lot more these days. People who have felt slightly down think they have experienced everything depression comes with, which is not normally anywhere near a serious case of it.

It's hard to judge this one as a mental condition can be more than one thing. There may or may not be a way out of it for her yet by seeking help. It may be something else that is bringing on the depression.

My gut says that assisted suicide is a bit wrong for this type of situation as it is a huge grey area. It not like a physical condition where you can say, "this is what is going to happen to your body in the future".

If she wants to die, it is her decision. I still think it is weird it hasn't already happened, though. Especially if they are genuine thoughts of wanting to die. It is what makes me believe that it may not be depression that is actually the main problem, she may have some other mental problems.

EDIT: The reason I say that is because in serious cases of depression, family ties and such are usually made almost irrelevant by the strong depressive feelings. It's what brings up the argument about selfishness in suicide.

Absolutely NOT! This article scares me.

It already says that she's attempted suicide several times. I'm sure if she were to keep trying them she'd get it done eventually, but it seems pretty cruel to require people to keep making botched attempts when a goddamn medical expert could do it a lot more humanely in one attempt. There are also people who have removed their own teeth, but that's not a valid argument against having dentists.

It's suspect. I guess I don't really buy the notion of attempts, especially if it's multiple tries. If you truly want to die, it's not difficult to find a way to ensure it in combination of various methods if your means are limited. It's just a matter of how far you're willing to go and endure. I don't mean to be cruel, but I think you have to be pretty fucking incompetent to screw up something like trying to kill yourself more than once when you have all the time in the world prior to plan it out to a tee. I suppose attempts are genuine, but most of those probably stem from cases where the person wishes to die, but doesn't want discomfort so doesn't fully commit themselves, or are last cries for help.

I know someone here in the Netherlands who bought some pills, called the "suicide help" number, they asked him to send them the pills to test if they were really what he thought he had bought and confirmed that those pills would kill him...the guy only took "as many as needed to kill him" but it didn't, so he just messed himself up and got rushed to the hospital. If you're planning on killing yourself with meds, just take the whole thing! How do you mess that up?

Heh, pretty much. Plan past the point of failure. It ain't that hard. Pills are just asking for trouble unless it's something like cyanide. Hell, just buy some fins, go to a lake or ocean, make sure you're not seen and swim down and down and down. Inhale. Done.

I love these morbid topics.

Wouldn't it be more ethical to treat the depression than to assist with the suicide?

I 100% support assisted suicide for any reason or no reason at all. Humans have the right to die. It is their body, their choice.

My only restrictions would be the person has to be 25 years old(because that is the age the brain fully matures) and that the person understands what they are doing.

Exceptions would be made for younger people if they have a severe physical injury.

As for people with severe mental disability, they MUST prove without a doubt that they are of sound mind and understand what they doing. They can be crazy, but they need to show that they understand what death is and they wont be coming back.

There is so many benefits to society if even just 1% of the world chose to die every year.

Less poverty, less homeless people, more jobs, less strain on healthcare and other programs. Attempted suicides would drop dramatically if people had an easy option.

I don't think assisted death should be authorized. If assisted death was authorized that mean more people will successfully die. Quite often people who say they want to help to themselves are just doing it as a plea for help. Any person with a small amount of intelligence can kill themselves. I can jump out of the window in my home right now if I really wanted to die. But so often people just say they want to die so they write letters or take a couple of pills or turn the car on in the garage for a few minutes. Things like that are pleas for help. So if we legalized it pleas for help would actually turn into people dying because the assistance would get it right.

Nope, I don't think so.

@MrGeezer: do you really believe there is such a term as "assisted suicide"?

Isn't that really just a cry for help?

I'm in support for assisted suicide for people with terminal illness, but for depression, no, absolutely not.

I have bipolar disorder, and before I was medicated I guarantee my answer would be the opposite of what it is today, because for the most part I DID want to kill myself.

Then I found a mix of medications that worked for me, and I started seeing things clearly. If I had killed myself, I would never know just how much better it can get, and it does get better, mental illness is not an unconquerable beast, even if it might seem that way.

Psychologically unstable for the price of death...I don't see why it's giving its sale discount,but no way am I going to buy it if it's from a depression,surely there has to be a way to solve this.

I was a depressed kid who hardly enjoy time at elementary school because of bullying in every last minute til the time I went insane and scared 99.8% of the school because I was an object of unfunny laughing material,I tried to kill that person years ago and wanted to do the same thing to myself so it's like "he physically assaulted me!"

but that didn't happen,because the loyal teacher(who's not afraid of my fury) through God helped me shape a life for the better living,it's not an easy come situation, as I secluded myself from fake-info-loaded hipsters in order to make myself an unheard person,I value elders more than my own age group,seeing that the age group I'm in has always mistreat each other,seldom it will cause depression,or for worse,murder attempt..just like how I did it.