Article looks at ‘rational’ suicide
Can suicide ever be a rational choice?
More than two-thirds of all suicides are driven by a mentally disordered mind, experts say. But a provocative new article published this week in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry asks whether suicide can ever be rational — a decision made under free will, in the absence of any diagnosable mental illness and with full appreciation for the potential consequences.
“Designating suicide as an undesirable event that should never occur raises the debate of who is responsible for one’s life and runs the risk of erroneously attributing blame for suicide,” Dr. Angela Ho, a University of Toronto psychiatry resident, writes.
In cases where people are of full mind and mental capacity, “there is much debate about whether suicide can ever be rational,” Ho writes.
Little is said about the concept of rational suicide — managing cases of suicidal thinking in people who are mentally stable, Ho writes.
“People may have difficulties coping with life,” Ho said. “Maybe they don’t have a lot of support or healthy ways of dealing with their emotions. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed and feel like suicide is the only answer.”