I've thought about suicide more than I'd like to admit. I remember talking to a couple of friends once and one of them asks the other if he ever thought about killing himself. His answer was something like "Hell no, and I hope that I never will". Then my turn came and when I said that it's a pretty common occurrence for me they didn't quite believe me. Maybe the fact that I kind of said it like a joke didn't help.
It was the first time I talked about it out loud and while I didn't see it as such a big problem (even though it probably is), it made me ask myself: Why? Why do we do it? Why do we think about it, why do we make plans for it and why do we actually go ahead with those plans and end it all? Humans are the only species that are known for committing suicide. Even more intelligent animals like apes and dolphins have never been documented for engaging in such activities. So maybe intelligence hasn't got much to do with it.
Some do it for what they call a greater purpose, some for honor and some because they think it would be better for those who are close to them (for example, an older person ending his life so he wouldn't be a burden on their community). Most people, however, do it out of despair, which is caused by mental issues, substance abuse and/or stress factors such as financial problems or issues with personal relationships.
Almost a million people commit suicide every year world-wide, with men representing about three quarters of the number of victims, although women attempt suicide much more often. This is probably because of the methods being chosen, men often selecting more violent and therefore more effective means of ending one's life.
I wonder when suicide became a significant cause of death for our society. I bet primitive men, the hunter-gatherer type, didn't have time to think about ending their lives when they had to chase an antelope for three days before they could finally get something to eat. Perhaps suicide is then a product of comfortable living. The fulfillment of our basic needs that used to take up the vast majority of our time, like getting food and shelter, is nowadays, at least for people in developed countries, a non-issue. The physical exercise that usually accompanied obtaining what you needed to survive is also lacking and has to be supplemented through training regimens.
Natural selection is also pretty much non-existent in developed countries. Most diseases are curable or preventable, we have no natural predators and we help our peers in times of need. Suicide then could be nature's way of thinning the herd, culling those who are unfit to be a part of society, as people who end their lives often think of themselves that way, never realizing that they usually leave an emotional void in the hearts of those who care about them.
It is often said that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, but this is not always the case. For terminally ill patients, it's a way of minimizing the amount of pain felt, but the moral debates have yet to be settled on this issue.
No matter the reasons, suicide rates have been steadily increasing over the last few decades, especially among the young. This is correlated with a dramatic increase in diagnoses of depression and other types of mental disorders among both men and women, so perhaps the question as to why people choose to end their lives should be preceded by finding out what's not going so well with our minds.
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