Life and death

It has been said that to a suffering person, the thought of committing suicide is the greatest comfort.

It makes a lot of sense. Now, I wouldn't personally recommend suicide to anyone, it is far too often a very permanent solution to a temporary problem. But psychologically, there is still a lot of logic to that statement. The thought of suicide crosses the mind of most people at some point or another. I'm sure most of you have thought about jumping off while walking over a high bridge, or steering into the headlights of oncoming traffic. It is not necessarily any kind of conscious effort or rational thought, it's more of a "what if...", and most people never have any intention whatsoever to actually act on the impulse. A lot of people would never admit to having thoughts like this. In their minds suicidal equals nuts, only crazy people think about suicide, and they don't want to seem crazy. That is of course complete bullshit. Thinking about suicide and being suicidal are far from the same thing, and you don't have to have any kind of mental problems to think about suicide. Everyone thinks about life and death and one's own mortality at some point in life. Nobody lives forever.

So why is suicide comforting to a suffering person?

The most obvious comment to this is that by committing suicide, the suffering ends. You're free of it, and can go to heaven, or straight to hell if you're catholic, or wherever it is you believe you will end up when you die.

The second and not quite as obvious comment is that it is the option of suicide that is comforting, not the actual act of killing yourself. From a certain point of view, the greatest level of suffering comes not from suffering itself, but from the fact that you have no choice but to suffer. People like being in control of things, especially themselves. A person who has lost everything, his home, relatives, dignity, self esteem, etc. can still hold on to the fact that it is up to him what happens next. His life is his own, he still has free will and the choice to either lie down and give up or to keep going and rebuild his life. He is the master of his destiny. Now imagine this choice being taken from his as well. Reduced to nothing but a puppet at the hands of an external force, this alone is a pretty gruesome form of torture to many people. Of course, there are many people who might argue that one is never really in control of one's own life, and that free will is only an illusion, but that is a different discussion.
The idea of suicide can be comforting, not only as a means to stop the suffering, but as proof to yourself that you are still in control of your life. It is up to me how my life ends and when. And in the extension: If I am suffering, it is because I choose to suffer instead of killing myself, not because I have no choice. I might not commit suicide, but I have the option. The choice is mine, I am in control.

That said, don't go committing suicide. There are so many better things to do to yourself. Go to a spa, or read a good book over a tasty cup of coffee instead.