The Philosophy of Suicide

The Philosophy of Suicide
By A. Alex Cano

About 10% of all people who die by suicide do not have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death. This statistic means 1 out of every 10 suicides the person is “normal.” It is not my place to say someone is normal or abnormal, mentally healthy or mentally unhealthy, but there is one thing I do know, suicide crosses all lines. Who is at risk of suicide? Everyone who is alive is at risk of suicide, moreover, and everyone who is alive is at risk of death.

In the youth, children as young as 7 years old have attempted suicide. There is a difference in the attempt and the ideation. We can’t tell when someone starts to have thoughts of suicide. Even if we ask and survey, there are still those who are unwilling to admit they are suicidal or have suicidal ideation or thoughts of death. Children as young seven years old already have the idea they are alive, already know they hurt, and already know if they can suicide, they can stop the pain of life. Even if a child is not told about suicide or death, the child may instinctively know he or she is alive and can die. If an attempt can happen as early seven years old, we can safely say, a thought of suicide and death can happen before the age of seven.

Suicide is the third and fourth leading cause of death in 15-24 year olds and 10-14 year olds, respectfully. These deaths are results of thought and actions. Some deaths by suicide are not counted by statistics because of stigma, shame, and/or mode of death, so the numbers are a lot higher than shown. To think a ten year old has the capacity to have the thought of suicide, come up with a method, then carry out that mode of death, is a long and tedious line of reasoning (for some and for others, it is the easiest decision in the world). Sometimes, it takes moments and other times it takes days, months and/or even years.

Up to 25% of children have [admitted to having] thoughts of suicide at some point. The thoughts of suicide are about 10-15% higher than the attempt percentage, which means there are more thoughts of suicide and/or death than attempts. If there is thought about suicide, then there is some strategy behind the suicide. Somehow, these children are thinking about suicide and death and, before the attempt, strategizing on how to do it or planning it out. Although every thought is personal, there might be warning signs that the child may be at risk. On the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website, there is a list of suicide ideation warning signs. These warning signs are a guide on if the person is going from thoughts to actions. At times, thoughts of suicide or death might be something one might shrug off as not important, but every suicide thought is important. The reason every suicidal thought is important is every thought might turn into action. The site doesn’t say this, but with each additional warning sign, the person might be that much closer to attempting suicide.

As people get older, they also experience events. I say this, because these experiences are not always for the best. Some people go to fight wars and come back with injuries like PTSD, or TBI or lost limbs or a number of other injuries which could increase the emotional, psychological and (not to mention) physical pain and these events emphasis the person’s mortality. In civilian life, car accidents, relationships, loss of a loved one, or a loss of a job could have the same effect. The fact of the matter is the older we get the closer to death we become. If children have this ability to recognize death, adults are even more prone to view death, suicide and mortality in a more focused manner and not to mention the exposure to experiences.

Although death has been around as long as man has existed, there are still deaths that are stigmatized, some glorified and some welcomed. Suicide as most people could agree is one of the most stigmatized deaths around. To think someone could end life before ‘something’ could take it is to some unthinkable. Some stories go back to biblical times like Judas’ suicide after his betrayal of Jesus. Some deaths are glorified like Jesus’ death. Jesus was executed and to most, that is a glorified death. Then there is the death that almost everyone wants, ‘I want to die of old age in my sleep.’ To some this death is what really happens and we don’t really hear about it, or it doesn’t make it onto the evening news, but we do hear about the deaths that shouldn’t have happened like suicide and murder. The most horrible thing is that most of the deaths are never spoken about and most likely our deaths won’t be talked about as much as Judas or Jesus.

With talking about death and other people’s death kind of begs the question, ‘How am I going to die?’ This is one of the most difficult questions to answer, especially with death lurking not too far away. On a death certificate there are six boxes the coroner can choose from: Natural, Homicide, Suicide, Accident, Pending Investigation, and Could Not Be Determined. Unconsciously, we think about these six boxes. Pending Investigation and Could Not Be Determined are the most frightening boxes, because the living would not know how we died. We try as hard as we can to stay away from these two boxes. The other four boxes are the most common boxes to be checked. As stated above, most people want to have the Natural manner of death boxed checked. Natural death is reserved for the heart attacks, strokes, cancer, influenza, and other diseases. Accident deaths are the cars wrecks, drownings, head injuries, electrocutions and so on. Homicides are the intentional death caused by another person like a shooting, stabbing, strangulation, suffocation and the like. Suicides are the intentional death of the self, which is all the above, but to one’s self.

Suicide is one of the most stigmatized manners of death, because it is the intentional death of one’s self. It is the word “intentional” that could change the manner from suicide to accident or homicide. The intention must be there for the coroner to determine it a suicide. If the coroner cannot find the intention of the person, it is usually an accident. There are a lot of car wrecks, overdoses, downings and suicide-by-cops that are not considered suicide, because the coroner could not find the decedent’s intent, or insurance reasons, or the stigma of suicide or… (Who knows). Some families don’t want to be associated with the word ‘suicide.’ They would rather their loved one’s death be an accident, murder, or anything else before it is a suicide. In some cases, people have gone to court to change the manner of death from suicide to accident just to not have their family associated with suicide. The biggest part of the stigma is the “mental illness” aspect of suicide. On the AFSP website, research says ninety percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death. With this lingering on someone’s head, I don’t blame them for not speaking out. The stigma of mental illness is sometimes worse than suicide. Often when people think of mental illness, they think of turn of the century torturous mental institutions, strait jackets, padded rooms, shock treatments, defecating oneself and mind altering drugs. No bueno. Yes, sometimes the cure is worse than the illness.

With stigma about suicide, it is difficult for someone who is thinking about suicide to share their suicidal thoughts with others. Just because they are not talking about it, doesn’t mean they are not thinking about it. Going back to the children who are thinking about suicide, I put “admit” to them thinking about it and “admit” to attempts because there is this stigma that could prevent them from talking openly about it.

The statistics say 90% have a diagnosable mental illness at the time of their suicide/death. This is where I have a problem. Suicide and mental illness are not one in the same. If that were the case the statistic would be more like 99.9999% had mental illness. The 10% who are not mentally ill are what take that away. There are some cases, like in children, where it would be easier for someone (living) to pin a ‘mental illness’ tag on the decedent than openly say ‘yes, that person was mentally health, but just wanted to die.’ The suicide could be the result of depression, but depression doesn’t kill with a gun. I could be bipolar, but bipolar doesn’t have a noose. It could have been schizophrenia, but schizophrenia didn’t drive off a cliff. Although these illnesses bight have added a stigma to the person, it was the thought of suicide, the plan of suicide, and then the action of suicide that killed the person.

At times there is a line drawn between mental illness and physical illness and suicide. Activists will fight for mental illness enforcement when smokers, drug addicts, cancer patients, HIV+ & – people all suicide as well. Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted in suicides which opened a long time question of “to be or not to be?” Some people say under certain circumstances suicide is ok, and under other circumstances, it is not ok. Some try to put their rules and regulations on someone else’s life. Basically, ‘You have to abide by my morals and my ethics. And I will tell you when it is ok to die: NEVER.’ Whether or not suicide is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ for someone, death is an issue. Our society debates over the meaning of life, the right to die, and those who can help with a quick and painless death/suicide. Some of the reasons people site as an ok reason to suicide are cancer, lack of limbs, and coma and yet others say there is no reason at all ever that someone should suicide. The biggest issue Dr. Kevorkian brought about was ‘is a professional who knows about death allowed to openly talk about it or show someone how to suicide.’

Dr. Kevorkian went from assisting in suicide to killing. There is a big difference. Although, suicidal people could suicide-by-cop or provoke a gang to shoot, or start a chain reaction that would result in a death, but could, should, would someone else other than a suicidal person want to help in a mercy killing? What are friends for? (Medic Wade asks for a little more morphine and Captain Miller says give it to him in Saving Private Ryan. )

It is bad enough a professional teaches about suicide, but there are places on the internet that teach how to suicide and the person teaching has no education in Thanatology. Of course, the result is the same; death, but is that the best way to die? Who knows? There are pro and con groups that advocate for and against these internet websites. Suzy’s Law is a growing group that advocates against groups like A.S.H. Suzy was a girl who was mentally ill. She had depression, but she also didn’t want to live anymore. She sought out help, was on medication, went to therapy, but it didn’t work for her. She was suicidal. She talked to her therapist about suicide, but proper actions were taken, but she was still suicidal. She wanted to die. She went online and found Alt. Suicide. Holiday. (A.S.H.) They showed her how to go about setting up and plan her death. She followed the plan and suicided. Her family started a group called Suzy’s Law to stop groups like A.S.H. and have criminal charges brought against those who help others with their suicide. Unlike Dr. Kevorkian, they had no physical contact with the suicidal person like Suzy. It was all done over the internet.

If a suicidal person wants to die, what is he or she supposed to do? They could get help for a mental illness that may or may not apply to them. They could go to therapy, get on medications and/or get hospitalized. They could go on living getting closer and closer to death and logging more and more experiences under their belts. They could do all these things and more, but the issue still remains: they are suicidal. Suicide isn’t a mental illness, it isn’t a medical or psychological issue; it is a philosophical issue. When is it ok to die? When will society be ok with the manner of death a suicidal or anyone decides to die?

Dr. Edwin Shneidman and the rock band the Cure say death is something you don’t have to do it will be done for you. It will be done for you, but is that really how you want to die? Is cancer or liver failure or an airplane in your building or shark bite how you want to die? I have seen “1000 Ways to Die” which makes me want to figure out a proper way to die so I don’t end up in one of these types of strange and unusual deaths.

At times, it is difficult to think we have little to no control over anything. Control over what we do and how we feel is often an issue in the philosophy of suicide. The idea is we may not have control over the situation, people around us, or even our own bodies, but we do have control over whether we live or die which is the ultimate control. Most times, control over our lives is iffy at best. Sometimes, if there is an attempt at suicide, it doesn’t mean the suicide will result in death. That is why there are so many attempts at suicide. People who attempt sometimes attempt until their suicide results in death. At times, a person might take 10 pills, but it doesn’t work, then they try 20 pills, then 40 then 200 then… until they finally die. Sometimes they try pills on time, then hanging then carbon monoxide then knives, then …until they die. Repeated attempts is not uncommon or repeated attempts is common. I heard a story once, (I don’t know if it is true or not, but I’d like to think it is) about a guy who wanted to kill himself. He was so determined to kill himself he decided to get his materials and do it. He went to a tall bridge tied a rope to the railing and around his neck, cut his wrists, took a bottle of pills, pointed a gun to his head and jumped. He pulled the trigger, but during the jump, his hand slipped. He shot the rope which jerked him to break the fall a little. He landed belly first which made him puke up all the pills what were blood thickeners which helped with the clotting of his wrist wounds. Cops were not too far and were able to save him. It just goes to show, even when you think you have the perfect death planned out, it may not work. So even if you have the utmost control over a situation, it still may not work out for you.

Hamlet asks, “What should such fellows as I do crawling between heaven and earth?” HA HA Hamlet! The prince of contemplation, the creator of “to be, or not to be”; what was his dilemma? What made him contemplate suicide, and made Albert Camus says, ‘There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide” ? Few know that Hamlet was a lover. He loved Ophelia so much he contemplated killing himself, because he couldn’t have her. Hamlet being a lover, wanted to love. He didn’t have Ophelia to love anymore, so his life was out of sorts. He became like Sisyphus in Camus’ “The Myth of Sisyphus.” He was the god who had a fruitless life and of course, Hamlet contemplated suicide, but Sisyphus, during his punishment, didn’t. The difference between the two is their happiness level. Hamlet being in constant sorrow over the loss of his love (and the view that women, like his mother, could get over a man, like his father, so easily) wasn’t happy, but Sisyphus was happy, even after his wife took off all his clothes when he was dying and threw him in the village courtyard, upon his request, he died, was imprisoned and was in exile.

When I was going through a suicide prevention class, I was asked to give some words as a gift to the class to help them in their quest to prevent suicide. I said, “My gift to you is to die happy.” This is the most difficult thing to do, but it can be done. To die happy, you must be happy. So dying while you’re depressed or tortured by your own thoughts is not good time to die. To die when you are physically hurt is not a good time to die. You have to find the time when you are at your happiest to die. (Spoiler Alert) In the movie American Beauty , Lester Burnum (Kevin Spacey) was by himself looking at a photo of his family, he smiled and was shot in the head. I don’t know if he was truly happy, but I would like to think he was. The neighbor kid even comes up to him and smiles back at his dead body. Like Lester, his whole life could have hell, but when he died, he was happy.

The hardest part of this philosophy is the struggle to get happy so you can die or kill yourself.