<p>People who commit suicide do so not because they are selfish but because the disease renders them incapable of coping with the hopelessness and pain that they feel.There are many reasons for being in such a state, and the decision to commit suicide is not one that is taken lightly. Most people are ambivalent. See this link from the National Institute of Mental Health: <a href=“http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml[/url]”>http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml</a>
You may be one of the people, mnyawn, who have experienced depression without suicidality. Not all depressed people are suicidal, but almost every person who commits suicide has an underlying mood disorder. If this is a choice, it is certainly not a rational choice. I admire your intent to take good care of yourself and to keep in touch with people you care about often while you are at college. I have heard that people with a genetic vulnerability to depression are those who suffer more than people who don’t have this genetic vulnerability when there is a loss of any kind in their lives. So take particularly good care of yourself after any kind of loss: from a bad grade to being humiliated somehow to a romantic breakup, etc. Talking to a mental health counselor you trust (usually off campus is better–colleges don’t seem to have the funding for good mental health care–on most campuses). Take care and you are welcome, and thank you for your kind words to me. The terrible pain has eased with time and the kindness of people like you.</p>