Suicide- Shame or Honor

Human psychology is very complex. Every human responds to a challenge differently. For some people the challenge might be a mere hiccup in their path but for others it could be a matter of life and death. The challenge might be the same but it’s the perspective that decides the magnitude. It’s our psychology that determines how vulnerable we are to a situation and how we shall counter it. In general, the word suicide has a negative connotation and is looked upon unfavorably. Suicide is often committed out of despair. Yet in some circumstances, killing oneself can be considered acceptable or even the right thing to do. Since it's difficult to differentiate between the correct thing to do and the wrong thing to do, we need to look further into the subject.

Since the beginning of time, people have been committing suicide. Suicide is a self-inflicted death. In ancient Europe, during the time of the Roman Empire, suicide was an approved and sometimes an honored act. The Roman philosopher Seneca praised it as the last act of a free human. In Japan suicide is a still considered as an honor. Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide, which was performed by the samurais. Even today it did not completely die out and dozens of people are known to have committed seppuku since then.

Suicide is a complex behavior that includes biological, psychological, and social causes. Psychiatrists have found deep depression to be common in suicides that they study. Suicide is not a pointless or random act. To people whom think about ending his or her own lives, suicide represents an answer to an otherwise insoluble problem or a way out of some unbearable dilemma. It is a choice that is somehow preferable to another set of dreaded circumstances, emotional distress, or disability, which the person fears more than death. Arguments have been advanced that some people are more inclined to depression, and thus to suicide, than others. If someone else whom the person admired or cared for has committed suicide, then that person is more likely to do the same.

All the basic forms of suicide that occurred in the past are found in modern nations. Recent trends in frequency show that male are four times more likely to commit suicide that females. Suicide is often committed out of despair, the cause of which is