Alternatives to Suicide

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I'm trying to think of alternatives to suicide. Does anyone know? Suicide is a way for someone to escape every problem in their life. It dosen't really sound that bad to me.

Narcisistic Personality Disorder, or Narcisism in general. I've met a woman who was quite obsessed with narcisism, read tons of book on the topic, and she explained me how the narcisistic person has somehow decided to kill him/herself, obviously not phisically but psychologically. I think I have high chances of falling into this description.

The little escapes. Meditation. I shouldn't say this but sometimes I take 2 pills instead of 1 and escape for a few hours. A really good book, but that's my own obsession.

Anything funny - consider the Comedy Channel as a prescription. Frasier, Lucy - find your own and watch them. Rent funny movies.

A little bit of structure in the day - 4pm Law & Order, feed the dog, let the dog out, 5pm Law & Order, 6pm feed myself. If they take away Law & Order I'm going over the balcony. But the steadiness of that sequence helps me, dunno why.

Good luck and, um, break a leg.

I don't think suicide allows people to escape every problem in their life, it merely ends the possibility of thing's ever changing. The only way you could see it as solving your problems would be if you assume there is nothing after death, and even then you simply stop your problems instead of solving them and you create problems for everyone who knows you.

I feel the same.

Performing suicide is the ultimate egoistical thing to do.

Suicide breeds suicide. If you take your own life, some of your friends and loved ones, could follow in the same footsteps, and do the same thing, them self. Life will get better. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

This might start some outrage so I'm just saying it's only applicable to myself, but when I was feeling this way 4 years ago I started doing some far out things, like I spent a day with a homeless man - who I thought was psychotic and could kill me - and we ended up talking about life etc and he told me about his family and what happened to his children and we kind of had this mutual healing, he actually got to the point where he booked in for rehab. I gave him $1500 to restart his life which was alot of money at the time for meand from what I've heard he's turned a corner and went back to tafe (school).

There was some other stuff, but most of it I was just putting myself out into danger. I had this idea that if I was going to die, I was going to die doing something important rather than locked away by myself but in the process I met these people and had this little episodes and found that I was actually living for a change, that I was out there experiencing life and it made me value it so much.

How do you know that suicide is a way to escape the problems of your life? Have you considered the possibility that sentience may continue after death, and if so, you may trapped in the emotional and mental state you were enduring at the moment of death?

We all know that energy changes but is never lost. Why would you assume that things would improve once you were dead? Suicide is a very illogical option to consider... I know I've considered it myself in the past.

You'll die one day anyway, and when you're dead, you're dead forever. The alternative is to live and at least know that change is possible. Things could yet improve. That's better than suicide, which could fix your despair for eternity like stone.

My mom committed suicide by gun when she was 50 and I was 28. That was 20 years ago. The first 2 or 3 years were hellish. The angst diminishes over time. If you have any loved ones who would be shattered by your death, don't do it. Alternatives might be a long vacation or relocation, a job/relationship change, going back to school, meditation, activism (doing something for a cause much bigger than yourself).

Because my mom committed suicide, I now see this is a valid option. It does get "passed along" as someone said above.

If the average age on this planet is 80 years, let me remind you how fast it goes by. It flies by. I was 28 and now I'm 48 like it was yesterday. It's nearly impossible for me to comprehend how the last 20 years (since my mom beamed up) just vanished while I was plodding along working stupid jobs and being in and out of lousy relationships.

It's over before you know it so you might as well find a way to endure/enjoy it. Road trip?

Hey ptown. I'm sorry to hear about your mother's suicide. My mum also killed herself. The act is not just violence against oneself, but against everyone who cares for you. That is something to bear in mind. My mother no doubt felt when she did it that nobody cared, but the fact is, whether we feel it or not, our lives are intricately bound up with others. If you kill yourself you're killing others too.

And you're right, life flies by... it's been nineteen years since my mother died. I don't know how it went so quickly. I'll be dead soon enough. I can wait till then.

What a judgmental and arrogant thing to say. Suicide with the intent of upsetting others is childish and pointless, yes. But if you are not currently experiencing the pain that drives a person to seek ultimate escape, you have no right to make such statements. Agony has not a damned thing to do with ego.

I have watched a suffering patient in a hospital bed write a note to their family telling them to let doctors pull the plug because they were ready to go. Was that an act of egotism?




Unless you're a Highlander, LIFE IS A TEMPORARY PROBLEM. But it doesn't feel that way when you are chronically unhappy.

I am certainly not recommending that anyone take such drastic action. But I am sick to death of these glib, thoughtless, downright cruel "If you even think about suicide you're a horrible person" responses. If you are thinking about suicide you are in horrible, excruciating emotional pain and need compassionate support and perhaps a little empathy...

oh, right. Sorry.

I love your posts Willard. You say things I feel but often can't find language to say. It helps more than anything to be able to see and read it that way.

I usually just try my best to remember the intensity of the emotions usually passes. I try to remember how many times I wake up the next day and something really humorous made me chuckle and feel good and it was worth it to get through the pain in order to have that moment. Taking some form of action to fight the darkness that's trying to enshroud me helps when I can force myself to do it. Little things like making a cup of cocoa and trying my best to do something comforting for myself even when it doesn't do a damn bit of good anyway. Just going through the motions until I get through it. It's up to us whether we live or die and how we want our life to be finalized. I've already lost too much of my life on tragedy and don't want it to be the ultimate outcome because in that sense the darkness will have won over light. I have to see what I'm capable of. I have to at least keep trying until there's nothing more to try with.

Edit: Did you edit out a lot of your post Willard? I'm glad I got to read it first.

The trouble is that there's no really reliable way to do it. You could end up paralysed or brain damaged AND still be very, very unhappy on top of that. I live in the UK where you can't get a gun, so that's out: but even people who've tried it that way have ended up living on in even worse agony. I'm not trying to be Pollyanna-ish about this: I've spent all weekend thinking about it. Trains are out because of the horror that imposes on the train driver. Knives? I'd panic and call 999 before I'd got half a pint out (Feel faint just thinking about it) I am 48 and all alone and very unhappy, so it seems rational to me. But I can't see any clean, painless way to do it. I really don't think there is one.

Best alternative to suicide is choosing life

What would you want to do if your problems were all gone? Go do it, and then deal with your problems when and where the opportunity arises.