This is how the suicide thinks about death

One thing is for sure: a priori, practically no person wants to die. The vast majority of people conceive the death process as the most terrible thing that can happen to an individual. We humans, in our constant desire to possess total "omnipotence" (in addition to strong ideals of transcendence), yearn for permanence in life.

For the suicidal, on the other hand, death acquires a special meaning. Their way of thinking about death is very different from that of the vast majority, and that influences their behavior and attitudes.

• Related article: "Suicidal thoughts: causes, symptoms and therapy"

Death, according to suicide bombers

There are two different ways that suicide bombers can come to conceptualize death. They are as follows.

An emergency exit

Here, the suicidal person understands death as liberation from the bonds and difficulties of life, a change to move on from what was lived in another existential plane imagined and characterized by the absence of suffering.

Suicide can be planned and carried out as a way to get rid of those problems that suffocate that person. "I can't take it anymore", "I'm sick of this suffering", and so on. These are just some of the statements that the person in crisis makes in the deepest moments of his ideation, although he does not have to express them openly. The possibility of committing the act is seen as an emergency exit since their personal, family or social situation becomes practically unbearable.

For the individual it is not so important what he is going to find after having dead, such as the fact of moving away from something: pain, grief, suffering of family and loved ones, etc. The really important thing is to get out of your state once and for all, get through that "dead end" in which you find yourself. The main objective of committing the suicidal act is to overcome the present distress quickly.

Suicide seen as positive

For others, suicide may have a different objective than the previous one: to make a change, either in oneself or in the environment in which the suicide is found. From this other perspective, the important thing is not to free oneself from that situation of anguish but rather focuses on what the person wants to achieve: tranquility, peace, happiness ...

In this case, the concept becomes a kind of portal into which the subject enters to obtain a more harmonious and pleasant experience of life (on a transcendental plane). Therefore, although it seems illogical and confusing, it is possible to affirm that for these people the main objective of committing suicide is to live fully, even if it sounds paradoxical.

From the aforementioned vision, suicide would become the gateway to a new life where tranquility and emotional calm are the protagonists, in addition to that to spice up the new stage of life and move on to another in which there will be neither the anguish nor the suffering that can occur at some point in life Present. It would be something like going back to that security of the mother's womb.

Thus, the act of suicide can be explained by a channeling towards the rejection of life, or by a quick approach towards death itself.

• You may be interested: "The relationship between depression and suicide from Psychology"

Suicidal reasoning: a curious contradiction

In the existing plot of suicide, life and death are the protagonists of the drama. Between these two poles the decision to end one's life is brewing; In the suicidal dialectic, the fear of living and suffering, on the one hand, and the fear of dying, on the other, would be the two extremes of existing.

The goal, then, is to die, but also to start living differently.. Various authors affirm that suicidal behavior is, in the first place, an act of life and not of death. He who wishes to commit suicide yearns to free himself from his problems, change existing circumstances or to return to a state of security, yet deep within his being lies a fervent desire to to live.

A form of hope?

Other scholars of the phenomenon consider that suicide means hope, hope to continue living in full peace and tranquility. With this, suicide becomes the way to eliminate existing hopelessness, suffocating depression and permanent guilt. It is also a way of disappearing, but remaining in the consciousness of family and friends as a painful and difficult memory to overcome.

At the extreme of those who observe life, there is the great spectrum of those people who manifest a first symptom of general malaise identified as "denial of life" and self-disqualification, which produces a deep desire not to live, not exist more.

It is from this moment when there is a sudden turn to death: from the constant desire to die to the desire to commit suicide, and from this to suicide. As we approach the extreme of death, the experience of the suicidal thought becomes firmer and the risk of self-destruction is higher.