e cares about them. In addition to the feelings of grief normally associated with a person’s death, there may be quilt, anger, resentment, remorse, confusion and great distress over unresolved issues. The stigma surrounding suicide can make it extremely difficult for survivors to deal with their grief and can cause them also to feel terribly isolated. Survivors often find that people relate to differently to them after the suicide, and may be very reluctant to talk about what has happened for fear of condemnation. They often feel like a failure because someone they cared so much about has chosen to suicide, and may also be fearful of forming any new relationships because of the intense pain they have experienced through the relationship with the person who has completed suicide. Too many people are killing themselves for reasons that can be easily solved. Suicide has been increasing over the years and it should be decreasing. Suicidal people see no other way out of their problems. These victims of emotions running rampant need lots of love and understanding. But what they need most is someone to really listen to them and tell them, “I do not want you to die”. Even the most severely depressed person has mixed feelings about death, wavering until the very last moment between wanting to live and wanting to die. Most suicidal people do not want death; they want the pain to stop. The impulse to end it all, however overpowering does not last forever. People have always killed themselves, for reasons that seemed good to them, and it has long been recognized that laws against suicide serve little or no purpose. This issue remains a live one with respect to euthanasia because it is plausibly pointed out that, if you have a legal right to commit suicide, and you physically unable to do so unaided, it seems unfair to prosecute someone who helps you. Suffering and suicides are perennial factors, but today’...
