RE: Suicide: An Ethical Delimna
December 18, 2014 at 3:10 am
(This post was last modified: December 18, 2014 at 3:12 am by Thumpalumpacus.)
I think education is the only possible way forward of the three options presented. Enforcing and coercing only increase the feeling of powerlessness, and although I'm no expert, I sometimes think that suicide is the expression of ultimate power by someone who feels powerless. While I hate buzzwords like empowering, in this case, it hasn't completely lost meaning through misuse or overuse. I think you could reduce suicidal inclinations in people by teaching them the ways that they are powerful inside their own spheres. However, I don't think education is the only way forward.
I've been suicidally despondent twice in my life, and both times it was my son who (unknowingly) saved my life. But I don't think my suicidal feelings were based in powerlessness so much as extreme self-loathing -- which is exactly why his love was the salve that soothed my inner pains. I therefore don't think that empowerment by education is the only, or even primary, way to reduce suicide. But I certainly think it's a viable, and valuable, avenue.
I've been suicidally despondent twice in my life, and both times it was my son who (unknowingly) saved my life. But I don't think my suicidal feelings were based in powerlessness so much as extreme self-loathing -- which is exactly why his love was the salve that soothed my inner pains. I therefore don't think that empowerment by education is the only, or even primary, way to reduce suicide. But I certainly think it's a viable, and valuable, avenue.