Being sad about Robin Williams and the pain he had to go through to make his choice does not discount the sadness I feel for his wife and kids. I feel sadness about the whole situation. Sure suicide is the most selfish thing a human can do IMO. But being upset at the dead guy IMO is a waste of energy and counterproductive to preventing suicide.
I admit that I don't understand suicidal tendencies very well at all. I've never been one who's suffered from depression or feelings of doubt about self-worth. For someone in my fortunate position, this kid deciding to take his own life, especially given his promising future, is perplexing and seems like a totally selfish thing for an individual to do. But I've been reading a bit about the suicidal mindset and it seems that there's a common thread of people who have attempted suicide having thoughts that by ending their life and their problems they will stop being a burden to others. I think that we should not rush to judge those who have been in such a dark place. Obviously, if their minds were working normally, very few would make the decision to kill themselves.
I've been told that it's a lot like believing no one will miss them, it'll make their lives easier and they feel like they're a huge disappointment to their friends/family. And it's not like "well, they're not being nice to me so they'll regret it when I'm gone!" sorta thing. It's more that you don't feel you belong to anyone, or anywhere and that it's just not worth the effort anymore. Some of it is obviously that they themselves are in pain (not emotional, but physical) too, but I think in most cases it's just the person at a point where they don't know what they can do anymore to feel "normal" or right.
Some posters in this thread show a significant lack of understanding of how depression works. I can tell you for a fact, a suicidal person suffers significant mental anguish beyond what most people can understand. This is the best advice I give to anyone dealing with a suicidal person: Do not judge them when you don't even know what they are going through. It's a sickness and it needs to be treated as such with care and empathy.
Are you referring to anything I said? I don't claim to be an expert, just going on what my friend told me and what I've read (and the little bit of depression stages I've gone through in my life). *I wasn't saying this with a defensive tone, just wondering if maybe I have it wrong
No, I think you are curious and you are attempting to understand without judging a person who may be suicidal.
I can vouch for this being a real thing. Being lonely is a thousand times worse when you convince yourself that reaching out for company is an imposition.
