Also, can we just acknowledge how fucked up it is that this person felt they had no other way to deal with the situation, all because a group of people cared what clothes he wore in private.

I get that he decided to be part of this group, but even still… No one deserves that.

He could have moved to Oregon and a small town would have embraced him. sigh

Hey! One quick correction - I’m currently a therapy student. You are correct that if a therapist thinks you are in imminent danger of suicide, you can be detained for a period of time for your own safety. But we are taught only to do that if the danger is imminent. If you are just depressed and occasionally have suicidal ideation, but likely will not act on it immediately, a good therapist would not have you detained. That would be counterproductive.

Definitely just be super blunt and honest with your therapist. They are trained to handle things appropriately. You might hear about shitty therapists occasionally, but most of us are really well trained and really want the best for people.

I didn’t say suicide always happens, because you are mentally ill. You are twisting my words to suit your argument, maybe unintentionally. There is good reasons why people want to die, e.g. when they suffer from an illness that is only going to cause pain and suffering and want to go on their own terms.

I am not and was never in his head, but I am quite positive he didn’t suddenly develop, let’s say relatively severe Alzheimer’s disease and wanted to die why he still had controll over his life.

And yes, suicide should be allowed in my opinion as well. You should be the one who decides when and how you go. I agree with you insofar.

Though mental health professionals don’t admit you against your will, because it is a fun joke to them, but because the vast majority people are mentally ill when they are contemplating suicide. It is not a normal thing to want to die.

I don’t know how things are where you live, but in my tiny spot of the world people usually don’t get admitted against their will because of suicidal tendencies, but chose to after they talked to a mental health professional. You usually only get admitted against your will here, when e.g. police, firefighters and/or medical services had to talk you down or save you from an attempted suicide attempt. If that is not the case in your small town in rural Alabama, then you should inform yourself as well as possible and try to teach others about a better alternative. Just my two cents on your comment.

Are you trying to make a case that suicide can be a well reasoned and appropriate solution?

Euthanasia might be appropriate in the context of some medical illnesses, but I think there’s very few people that would agree that suicide is a reasonable course of action when one encounters challenges like that described here.

I’ll just pull you up on some of the phrasing or terms you’ve used. I’m not trying to be an ass, I’m just concerned at the way you’re phrasing things and maybe you don’t realise?

He hasn’t “lost everything”. Sure I’m sure he’s lost his current position and standing with some political parties, but he still has whatever wealth he had, and given his experience can probably look forward to a lucrative career in some kind of political support role in another state.

A “pariah” is an outcast. He might have found it hard to make eye contact with some people at the shops but he wouldn’t have been banned from entering the city.

He may have been “disowned” but some of his friends, but not all of his friends and family.

It’s never too late to move and turn the page on a new chapter. He wouldn’t be “starting over” he would be making a change and continuing on.

Additionally, the term “crazy” doesn’t help anyone. People who are clinically depressed and suicidal are not “crazy”.

Words and phrasing is important and means things, whether you realise it or not your phrasing and framing is very catastrophic or black and white. Life happens in the grey.

Finally, you absolutely can talk to a mental health professional about thoughts of suicide, and they’re not going to lock you up. Usually the barrier beyond which someone needs to be detained is when they’re an “imminent risk to themselves or others”. There’s a whole spectrum from “wonders whether suicide is a solution” to “likely to harm themselves today” and in most of that spectrum locking someone up is not the right solution.