Terminally ill 16-year-old takes his anti-suicide campaign to RTE

jank wrote: »

No you cannot.

Actually he can. Depression, is that thing where saying stuff like "Ohh look how beautiful that sky is" makes absolutely no difference. Most depressives are just going to shrug this guy off as not understanding them or worse using it as an excuse to rationalise that sense of burdening they have and thus exacerbate their condition.

jank wrote: »

I suppose he is presenting the tough love approach which doesn't go down too well with many in this over sensitive society.

for a start, theirs no "over sensitive society" in relation to an issue like this, i've never heard of the "tough love approach" having any effect in relation to this issue either.

jank wrote: »

If he makes one person sit up and take notice that life isn't all that bad which stops them taking their own life then what is the harm in that?

the harm is he's talking about something he knows nothing about by the sounds of it and i have a feeling his approach will do more harm then good

Ihatecuddles wrote: »

I think he's young and life has been unfair to him. He's speaking about something he doesn't fully understand.

Spot on.

jank wrote: »

Yes most will, I never said it would be cure all. What I did say is that if it makes one person sit up an take notice then it's worthwhile, unlike nervous twitch said that he can guarantee that nobody will do that which is an absurd claim to make.

If it makes one person sit up and take notice is only worth if it if doesn't make two people hide deeper in the shadows.

Also, it was only a figure of speech, if your intention is to be that pedantic on After Hours then I do truly wish you the very best of luck.

ForeverYoung90 wrote: »

Exactly he is not saying to simply "cop on",all these posters are being smart asses calling this dying young boy naive.Bigging themselves up they are.He is saying that if you are feeling depressed that you should turn to someone for help and not take the rash option.Read the full article before posting please.

and if he has suffered from real clinical depression,especialy at the level suicidal ideation and action happen;ie severe,he woud have understood what clinical depression is,no matter what anyone says it doesnt make a difference to how we feel-it may make us worse if that is indeed possible at that point,we also usualy accutely lack motivation, memory, concentration and of course a stable mental/emotional state to even process what people are saying to us.

this lad obviously has got no experience of how serious mental health is,he woudnt have been given the soapbox to air it if he had not been terminaly ill,he probably woud have been laughed at by RTE if he was just a regular teen.
it doesnt help that 'depression/depressed' is used to describe normal human behavior now days,and people self diagnose it for those reasons.
people dont go around saying their brain tumor is playing up -when they have a headache through being awake to long,or their paralysis is irritating them when they have caused themselves a 'dead leg' from lying on it heavily in their sleep,so why is it people have no issue using a clinical and very real diagnosis to describe every day situations?

jank wrote: »

Yes most will, I never said it would be cure all. What I did say is that if it makes one person sit up an take notice then it's worthwhile, unlike nervous twitch said that he can guarantee that nobody will do that which is an absurd claim to make.

I wrote nearly to allow for the fact that I'm not an infallible sage with an extensive knowledge of clinical psychology. From experience, however, I think it's reductive - and even harmful - to suggest that someone battling a mental illness needs a 'pep talk' to put them right.

I empathise with the guy and I can understand why he feels the way he does, but to give him a public platform to voice these feelings is irresponsible.

stevenmu wrote: »

I think that when someone has their choice between life and death taken away, that the only option they have is death, they have a right to be a little critical of people who choose death over life.

That doesn't diminish depression in any way, or ignore how tough it is. But when somebody who really wants to live can't, it's easy to see how they could be critical of people who can live but choose not to.

I actually don't think they do. Yes, life may have dealt them a very harsh blow, but projecting their 'wants' and 'desires' of how life ought to be onto the lives of others is incredibly selfish. I can understand, in part, why it happens, but I don't think it's a justified form of criticism. But it's also a display of extreme arrogance to assume that your situation, no matter what it is, is actually worse than somebody else's. I'm not diminishing his struggle, but what I'm trying to do is actually point out that there could be someone alive right now who is actually in more pain and torment than he'll ever experience for the 16 short years of his life. And that this person might suffer more pain and torment for another 20.

So telling them, he's angry at them, isn't helpful and just because he's on his deathbed doesn't give him the right to berate others. Life is very hard for some and understanding that these people don't regard it as precious is something I'd love for him to do.

To use an analogy, a person badly wants a smartphone and sees tonnes and tonnes of other people enjoying using theirs so he wants one even more. However, in that tiny little corner there's an inexplicable group of people who hate smartphones but yet still possess one. Be it for work, family or other reasons, it doesn't matter they have one but they absolutely hate having one. Does this person have a right to berate them for having a smartphone and hating it? Does s/he have a right to berate those who have a smartphone but don't want one?

I know, life is a much more precious commodity than a smartphone but the point is to try to deal with the logic by analogy and remove the very strong emotional attachment that the concept of life invariably brings.

tl;dr
Just because you lack something other haves doesn't give you an automatic entitlement to criticise how others, you perceive as having that thing you lack, act.