Why Isn't Suicide A Viable Option?
QUESTION:
Dear Dr. Heller,
Hi, I managed to go through your site. It says that suicide is not an
appropriate answer to one's problems. But let me ask you, when one
ends up himself his problems automatically end up with him too.
And anyway, everybody has to die some day or the other. I think it
makes no difference if one chooses to die a little earlier.
What do you think? Please don't take my questions as a taunt.
ANSWER:
The survival instinct is very powerful. For a person to believe that suicide is the best option two things must be present...
1) The individual has to be in more pain than he/she can handle.Because virtually everyone can be dramatically helped by medical, psychological and spiritual treatments, hope is very real. Understanding this hope is crucial. Solutions may require doing things differently (as Zig Ziglar says, "If you keep on doing what you've been doing, you're gonna keep on getting what you've been getting".)
2) The individual has to believe there is no hope it will go away.
Suicidal thoughts can happen to anyone under enough pain. It's definitely not a sign of weakness, but of hurting. If an individual is strongly suicidal, their spiritual beliefs are not adequate for them and need to be revisited.
If you study spiritual beliefs throughout the world, particularly the near death experiences, one discovers that suicide isn't a good solution. The majority of people in the world believe in re-incarnation. Many very spiritual people believe you have to come back and do it again and re-experience the pain. Not a pleasant choice. The best option is to get better. Three books that might help you in this regard are "Embraced By the Light" by Betty Eadie, "Transformed by the Light" by Dr. Melvin Morse, and "The Other Side and Beyond" by Sylvia Browne.
Hope definitely exists, and there are solutions to your pain.
