Thank you for this. I'm cutting and pasting this post of mine from another thread a while back because I feel it's pertinent here as well. AND because on a different thread tonight, someone has once again used the "permanent solution to a temporary problem" trope. Saying that a suicidal person is "selfish" is another example of the simplistic and cynical narrative that is automatically trotted out whenever suicide is discussed. This has got to stop.
BBM I am not attempting to engage in a philosophical debate regarding depression and suicide. But I have to say, the bolded part of this post is a trope that cannot die off soon enough.(Very bad pun not intended) This has become the de facto response to a very complex, painful and misunderstood aspect of mental illness. To say that suicide is a response to a temporary problem is cruelly dismissive, and for many, patently untrue. Yes, the suicide of a loved one (or even not a particularly loved one) is devastating for those left behind and leaves upheaval, grief, anger, guilt and hell in it's wake. Not always, but often. But, even those consequences pale in comparison to the anguish and all encompassing horror of the prospect of a life with no relief in sight for mental pain and hopelessness. For many, many people, mental illnesses such as depression, are chronic, very long term conditions and are not necessarily treatable. I bristle every time I hear that mantra about permanent solution/temporary problem. It's inaccurate in many instances, and it belittles a tragic act of desperation and attempt to end one's unrelenting and intractable pain.