Suicide
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Suicide is when a person chooses to kill themselves. The word suicide is from the Latin words sui caedere, which means "to kill oneself". In English, when someone kills themselves, people say that they "commit suicide". Mental health experts consider suicide attempts to be a symptom of a serious depression. Suicide is a crime in some places, and it is considered a sin in many religions.
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[change] Views of suicide
[change] Medical
Modern medicine treats suicide as a mental health issue. When a person gets many thoughts about killing themselves, it is considered a medical emergency, and people that practice medicine have suggested that people planning on killing themselves should get medical attention straight away. This is especially important if the person already has a means of killing themselves or can get one easily. People that are depressed are considered a high-risk group for suicidal behaviour. Suicide hotlines are available, where people can call and speak to somebody. However, the negative and often too clinical reception that many suicidal people receive after telling a health professional how they are feeling (threats of having to go to a mental institution, increasing dosages of medication, people disapproving of their feelings, etc.), often causes them to keep their suicidal thoughts to themselves.
[change] Cultural
In the Warring States Period and the Edo period of Japan, samurai who disgraced their honour chose to end their own lives by harakiri (hara = stomach, kiri = cut) or seppuku, which is where the samurai takes a sword and slices into their abdomen, causing an injury that kills them.
The cut is usually performed diagonally from the top corner of the hand that the samurai uses to write with, and it has long been considered an honourable form of death (even when done to punish dishonour). Though obviously such a wound would be fatal, seppuku was not always technically suicide because the samurai's assistant (the kaishaku) would stand by to kill the samurai by decapitating them to end the suffering, sometimes as soon as the first incision into the abdomen was made.
[change] Religion
Abrahamic, Dharmic, and Taoistic religions all think that suicide is a bad thing.
[change] Abrahamic religions
The Abrahamic religions, (like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) think that all life is sacred, and by killing yourself, you are murdering, and destroying what God has made, which is bad. For this reason, a person who commits suicide is believed to go to hell by Abrahamic religions.
[change] Dharmic and Taoist
The Dharmic and Taoist religions (like Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto) while having their differences, agree largely on their views to suicide. Although it is not looked at as being a good thing because they believe it will only mean you are reincarnated in the next life with a less enlightened soul, many people in the religions are actually more likely to commit suicide due to the fact that they do believe that there will at least be a next life.
In the Abrahamic religions, suicide is usually believed to end in hell, but these religions believe that there is more than one chance to life, so this means that more people would be more prone to suicide, believing they have a better chance in their next life. However, they believe that the bad karma they get for the suicide will be given to them in the next life, but some may still think that it is worth taking the chance.
[change] See also
- Euthanasia
