Suicide, Who Owns Your Body?

No !They should not be allowed to take their own life!

If someone commits suicide it doesn't matter a fig whether it's legal or not, at least not to them. If they try and are unsuccessful, society is soon at their bedside to remind them why they tried in the first place

Surely it's not still illegal is it? If it is, it shouldn't be. Ridiculous law - who on earth has the right to tell you what you can and can't do with your own life? And, as someone pointed out, it's not as if you'd care - you'd be dead (bummer if you didn't succeed, though). They're good pieces, FTSE. http://www.ukapress.com

I'm not saying that you should be prosecuted if it fails. But i don't think it is a solution to problems. There is always a way out- you just have to find it and other people can help you with that. Of course if you are terminally ill that is another question but still I believe there is always hope and nobody is beyond saving. Nobody! Anyway Chasing I think you are far to young to even think about this subject!!

With respect, Highhat, I was thinking about these issues at younger than Chasing. It's a normal part of the teenage thought process I think. The fact that you don't think it's a solution to problems (and I actually agree, in principle) is because, possibly, you've never been there. When you are in 'that place' you see no way out and, in your mind, no-one can help you. And you don't want them to, either. Sad, but there it is. If only people like Joplin, Morrison et al had waited a bit, waded through it...they might have realised that death comes soon enough, no need to speed up the process. As for the 'terminally ill' point. Should it arise, I reserve my right to end my life if I wish to and would hope and expect that real and genuine friends would help me do it, too, if I was physically unable. http://www.ukapress.com

I wonder if anybody hasn't at least contemplated suicide Andrea? I have been there but with the right care and attention I would never have sailed so far out to sea where I couldn't set sail. It is mentally deranged- an illness of the mind- Joplin and Morrison were on drugs- that is an illness too. Illnesses can be cured. I would never say that people have the right to take their own lives. Life is much too precious for that. and as I said there is always hope even if you can't see it yourself. It's there.

People don't have the right to take their own lives? To whom do their lives belong then, if not to themselves? http://www.ukapress.com

Andrea- to their families and loved ones if you want to talk about owning your body, to your children. You can't be so egotistical that you just decide to rob them of your companionship and love and care. I think it is very egotistical taking your own life.

Selfish and egotistical?! Christ on a bike - talk about kicking someone when they're down. You make it sound like suicidal people are just attention-seeking egomaniacs. A lot of people when they're on the verge of taking their own life are so far along the road of despair that they think less than nothing of themselves and are 100% convinced that everyone else thinks the same or at least that everyone would be better off without them there. And there are many many situations beyond terminal illness where people believe there is no hope and to be honest they may well be right. Sometimes it's better to be gone than carry on struggling when life is horrendous. Highhat, you have impressive optimism to say there's always hope but I'm afraid I disagree. Suicide is a solution to some problems - if you're dead you're not suffering (hypothetical afterlives excepted). Apart from anything else, a lot of people find just having the option of suicide available helps them carry on. The difference between being trapped in a room with a door and a room without a door, even if you don't know what's on the other side of that door. I feel very strongly that it's everybody's right to take their own life.

Okay I give up my case. I would just like to say that I am very happy to have been saved myself.

Yes, viva Pia! We need more optimism like yours in these often depressing times. Hope I didn't go over the top or offend - certainly wasn't my intention - it is a subject I feel strongly about but I can understand why many would feel equally strongly the opposite to me.

I think I would probably be a bit taken aback if you hadn't said live Pia- so thank you. I guess I just don't remember too well so I rest my case. It is so sad when people don't see any other way out. It's sad to lose them, don't you think?But I do think that it is a form for psychosis taking your own life.You're almost dead before it's over. I hope the afterlife is good to these people who do succeed. I think it is a better place for them, don't you? Euthenasia eh, Ftse? Well that is a new word to me. Thank you for setting me right. It just makes me so sad to think of it- that means that I am really very happy and not depressed, doesn't it! I read the two pieces you linked to and that triggered my memory! Strong stuff! It's good he was so honest to write about it. I think most people feel a bit ashamed when it doesn't succeed and tend to be very quiet about it but then you are pretty depressed when you are so far out and there isn't much meaning in anything let alone yourself. ;)Pia

It most definitely is sad, devastating, for those who love the person who kills themself. So many questions and probable guilt and anger and all sorts. It messes you right up and even makes it more likely that you, yourself will attempt suicide. it's even possible that, in a "It's a Wonderful Life" style, if people could see what effect them not being around would cause on their loved ones, they might think again about 'everyone being better off without me.' But that's a total hypothetical situation. As for psychosis, I wouldn't say wanting to kill yourself is psychosis directly, although often psychosis is involved. But sometimes people do rationally weigh up staying alive and being dead, and they choose the latter. And sometimes, ironically, feel much better for choosing that. Maybe that's all to do with feeling better to have an escape route than not. And afterlife? Well, that entirely depends on what you believe. You could believe that you're going to hell but that's still better than your life now. Or you could believe there is no afterlife and that being nothing is better than life now. A longing for nothingness. Seems to me that those who believe in an afterlife but plan to kill themselves generally think that they're ending up in the bad bit, either because they think so badly of themselves or because they've killed themselves. Not sure many think they'll kill themself then pop up at the Pearly Gates or equivalent. I might be wrong though. It's a fascinating thing, and a terrible thing, but I'd say very much part of human nature. And a much more interesting topic than swimming with clothes on or the basic injustice of cherries.

The afterlife is mainly for the living anyway but it is nice to think that they may have a better time there than they had here because they couldn't have a worse time than the way they felt at the end.It's a sort of relief. Nevertheless having such low feelings about yourself and life I regard as ill. Something has snapped. Of course I haven't taken into consideration that you may be so physically ill that it is indurable. Oh dear yes it is much more relevant to talk about than swimming in your clothes and cherries.

The afterlife is mainly for the living - I like that.

I think that depression should definately be classed as an illness, because I think that its not the persons true character, more something that happens to them. And I also think that there is allways a way out, but there is no way that I or anybody else should ever have the right to tell other people what they should or shouldn't do with their own lives and bodies.

Another interesting topic! Depression I probably would say was an illness, but I don't know if I think of it as something that happens to people, like a cold or chicken pox. I think some people are more predisposed to depression, so I do think of it as part of them, although there are herditary and external influences. And it's so personal that it's hard not to see it as part of a person and their identity in some way. I think some think "I am a depressed person" or "someone who does get depression." I've heard of people who struggle when they're not depressed anymore as they don't know who they are anymore. Possibly a topic deserving its own thread!

How depressing