We do what we have to do when we have to do it - Its our own life as it will be our own death. I can't admit the word cowardly - I really don t like that word its as if we have t aspire to some false sense of how to be a person.

It occurs to me that with the my body my choice movement women are praised for choosing to end another life, but it doesnt seem to have any carry over when someone chooses to end their own life. you have to consider the physical and or emotional pain someone deals with on a daily basis. we as a species are hoarders including the people around us. i have suffered with being bipolar my entire life, and a significant amount of physical abuse in my formative years just to be cast out by my parents at 14. when i slit my wrist in Florida following a breakdown. the police had the bright idea of beating me senseless and repeatedly macing me to "save my life". i think if it ends someones pain then is their decision alone.

Suicide is irresponsible. The ones left behind have the hardest job.

i wonder how many killed themselves thinking they were going to heaven....

I think a better question would be 'Is it selfish of people to blame a person who commits suicide for their loss of that person?' The person who suicides is simply no longer alive but the sense of pain and loss that some people feel as a result of that person no longer being there can be great but it is their choice too on how to deal with that.
I've lost people in this life and it has often been a painful experience, especially when I was younger and didn't know how to deal with it. Blaming the person who opts to end their life by suicide is essentially blaming the victim, at least in my opinion.

Well, there are pros and cons to everything I guess. I was raised in Oregon and a few years ago doctor assisted suicide was passed there for terminally ill people. If someone truly wishes to stop living with pain and it is 100% sure they are going to die slowly then who am I to judge how they go. I would rather go on my terms standing on my feet then letting cancer decide when to take me. Just my opinion... As for the mental health issue, Sure if someone can be talked out of it or treated then that is a save, but I am sure that there are people out there that just want to no longer live but are sane and not depressed. Again though, who am I to judge?

I have another question;

If we go with a religious view on this then, why is it acceptable to execute people in the name of justice by state law but illegal to take your own life? Not all states outlaw suicide, but they will put you in the funny farm to try and find out what's wrong in your head. Killing is killing... yes? By your own hand or someone else's. Please don't misunderstand my statement here, I think if you go out and murder, rape, pillage then it's "off with your head!" as far as I'm concerned. But, to put someone in jail for wanting to take their own life seems like a double standard to me. The state says "You must be punished for your crimes" yet what crime am I committing by hurting myself. Who am I hurting by attempting my own life? Is it a victimless crime if I am the victim? If I feel that I am not a victim they who's to say otherwise. My life, my decision. Cowardice, perhaps, but maybe some out there really don't want to deal with this messed up world we live in now. /shrug

No two suicides are the same. It is not black and white, but layers upon layers.

When someone is depressed they are at risk for suicide, and it is not a matter of cowardice, it is a matter of your brain going to a really dark place where you don't - literally - see the light at the end of the tunnel. In those cases it is not a matter about being a "coward" about facing life, it's about this intense sense of "hopelessness" brought on by their depression. If you've never felt it, then it's hard to understand what that is like and how that can cause someone to take his/her life. It's tragic because those who manage to do it, I suspect, they where trying not so much to end their lives, but to end that hopelessness in their lives. Many come to think that ending their lives is the only way to end the hopelessness inside. It is extremely hard to reason properly and maintain perspective when in a deep depression. That I know. That is why depression is dangerous and must be treated head on.

Then there are those who want "medical" suicide due to some terminal illness, and they just want to die with dignity. Neither case needs "judgment." What is needed is a greater understanding of the phenomena in either case.

I can't help but think it's selfish. My mom had bowel cancer and tried everything to stay alive. A friend's 17 year old had a brain tumour and passed away 4 months after being diagnosed. His parents fought so hard!! People committing suicide have their whole life ahead of them and they decide to end it...

I'm not sure what the motivation for a question like this might be, but dealing with depression is a very difficult way to go through life. So in a since, both staying in... or choosing to leave... can both be 'acts of courage,' or even 'cowardice.' Though I would never call them that. Living and dying are both acts of courage.

Not cowardly. Matt's Story:

No, I do not think it cowardly, for reasons elaborated below much more eloquently than I could.

I would just like to add, I hope your query is not a prelude to action.

I've seriously considered it.
The two biggest things that kept me from it was the thought that the younger ones in my family might copy that example, without expending every effort to find answers.
And my own efforts which finally found me a great therapist. (3rd attempt.)
Be kind to yourselves people, you deserve this.
Oh, duh, the question. Without knowing that person's innermost turmoil, don't judge.

I don't agree with suicide, but to answer your question is no, it take big balls to actually do that

Nothing is that straight forward. Already mentioned here are the school shooters so the question for you is if one of those shooters had realized they were out of control and had shot themselves before they ever set foot in the school in order to protect other people, would that be cowardly. People don't just commit suicide from depression or to escape pain, they also do it as a final act to regain control of their lives.

Normally cowardly. But if the death has a benefit and does not betray others, but honors others?
Not cowardly, but the bravest action.

Having met a lot of victims of child abuse, and a lot of chronically ill people, no. Abandoning the cultural and societal taboos is the brave act. Disregarding all of our social programming that says we must live, regardless of our suffering, that is the brave act. Overcoming the fear of death as a result of tremendous suffering is not cowardly at all.

A coward does not do suicide !

The police officer handling the case of my daughter had seen suicides before. He called it, "When the demon comes", meaning that dark hopeless, desperate moment most people end their life. He told me about one young mother who killed herself in he bedroom with her baby in the crib next to the bed. The husband found her.
Anthony Bourdain hung himself with a belt from a bathrobe in a hotel in France, when the demon comes(I thought) is a pretty good expression of the hopelessness & desperation of the moment.
And last. If you see someone in pain try to help them. There's a national suicide prevention hotline @ 1 800-273-8255
Most always suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem.

False.. we have absolutely no idea what is going on in someone’s head 100% of the time. There are many reasons why medically and physiologically people choose this option. Drugs and therapy(of many kinds) can’t fix everything. I couldn’t imagine making that choice at this point or ever in my life... but never say never.

Much like any other bodily autonomy/medical care question the answer is No. It is ultimately the decision of the individual. Yes they may leave pain and sorrow behind them when they go but ultimately it is THEIR life and THEIR death. It is no one else's decision or place to judge.

"Cowardly" is such an insult. I've been thinking about your question since I replied (below) in the terms of what ''bravery'' really means. It means being afraid to do something but doing it anyway, because you're convinced it's the right thing to do. People at such a terribly low point are obviously as afraid of death as anyone might be...but they do it anyway, just to shut off their demons...or the knowledge of a long, painful death opening ahead of them. Faced with that prospect, I will absolutely kill myself...and die on my own terms.

False. Suicide may the only way to get rid of the pain that made you feel this way. It's a persons choice to live or commit suicide. There were a number of times I considered committing suicide in my 30s. I felt alone, because no one outside of family cared that I was on this planet. I'm glad I found reasons to live, but it's not cowardly to do so.

In the end it's your life. I would never leave my kids to face this thing alone so not an option for me. But I don't judge others

It really is not that black and white.