Lots of interesting comments.
Not a lot to say relative to those comments at this time however.
One thing comes to mind however as some have stated... it is my opinion that Clinical Depression is not possible to understand without having experienced it, or without a very unusual ability to understand others. AND even if you have experienced it, your appreciation of the power of its effects decays with time. I go back and read my writings during my deep depressions in order to keep on my toes about avoiding the patterns that can draw you into it. Denial seems to be the most common self-prescribed medicine for it, and it doesn't work without great damage the body and mind over time. Acceptance, education and realistic goals and expectations are in my regimen of self-prescribed medicines for my own depression(s). I don't ever take any type of commercial drug beyond Aspirin or Tylenol maybe.
One of the reasons I view suicide as I do is this... in recent posts I see persons talk about "a sense of purpose". That is probably where I have a limited understanding or at least a dramatically different view. It is my opinion that I have no purpose beyond living. During this time I wish to enjoy my life and I feel AND think that this is my choice. If for some reason I am unable to enjoy my life, I might end it... this is in SPITE of depression almost.
I would like to admit that while I stated above that I don't fear "death" which I perceive as simply no longer existing, I DO fear depression itself. Other than that, I can't think of anything that I am actually afraid of. I realized MANY years ago that the vast majority of people (90% in my estimation) are actually fear based. If you understand the implications of someone who doesn't fear all the things we are "supposed to" it gets very uncomfortable fast... the normal assumption is crazy. I have been tested for Autism twice now. Nothing. It is a thought process, not a psychological/physiological wiring difference in myself that causes this appearance sometimes. An example would be that "Hell" doesn't work on me, nor does threatening. It is difficult to explain, but in person I can usually get the point across pretty quickly/efficiently.
Anyway, the point is that fearing depression seems rational to me... it actually alters how you view your memories. Memory processes associated with smells are the only major exception that I noticed weren't really altered in myself by depression. I learned not to play games (other than time killer types) while depressed as replaying them later caused association of the depression as though it was tied into the memories themselves. Depression alters how I view everything. I will do what I can to avoid ever being truly depressed again. Sadness is welcomed and healthy, but depression is something else for me. When I was depressed, I was not alive.
I would rather see a world where we are taught we don't need a purpose to be happy and live a great life. Our genetic purpose is to live long enough to reproduce... everything else is taught to us by our society and or religious beliefs in my opinion. I view this is a source of major unhappiness for many. All instincts and reaction developed in humans for the purpose of living long enough to reproduce in my opinion. Now these survival instincts seem to be mostly exploited to keep us working (in survival mode or tolerance modes) for 5 or 6 days a week for revenue generation for our rulers. These are things I identified as triggers for my unhappiness anyway. My purpose is what I decide it is... which has become very complex in some ways since I began a habit of thinking beyond what I was taught in the first 20 or so years of my life. At least my life is real now... some people are happy in the society made "Matrix" we live in I suppose, but it isn't for everyone... and some of those people experience a LOT of unhappiness because of this.
Think about it like this... we are mostly like Pets to Government/Society, and like ourselves, we don't want pets to do much beyond exactly what we want them to do and then enjoy their lives doing exactly as we tell them or want them to. If they don't want to do what we tell them, and resisted to the point of Fighting Back, we would stop them or kill them. We de-claw cats now... insane. Our governments de-claw us on the same exact logic. This is just an example of the unnatural world we live in now, from my perspective, which causes a great deal of "anger" and other very negative reactions in people... leading to depression and to the subject of this thread... Suicide.
I am very aware there are physiological/chemical reasons that lead people to commit suicide, and I am not really commenting on those because they are outside the control of the individual in my opinion. Mental Illness can be caused by these, but they are not necessarily the actual cause or triggers as in myself. There is no chemical imbalance, there are only "reasons".
Out of time again... must go. Next time I can get back and I want to try to type about the thought process (opposite of denial) that I use to avoid seeing life as such a negative thing that it isn't worth living. Thinking in a negative context was part of my problem... once depressed, life not being worth living is easily understood. Habits of realistic thinking can help you see IF your life is in fact worth living, and for myself, "yes it is" has thus far been the case.
MrBlackCat