The Milexy Universe discussion

Veronika Decides to Die was first published in Brazil in 1998 and adapted to the cinema in 2009. Its story adresses a 24 year-old woman called Veronika who decides to die even though her life could look perfect to other people's eyes.

DISCUSSION: On suicide:

. Is it something that only occurs to people with a mental illness?
. Do you think people should or shouldn't have legal freedom to commit suicide?

I do not think that suicide only occurs among people with mental illnesses. I think that mentally healthy people may consider it when they are in stressful situations or if they simply have not found an individual purpose that makes their life feel valuable.

The second question is much harder for me to answer. I do not affiliate with a religion myself, but I know that many religions consider suicide taboo and eternally condemning, and from a non-religious perspective, a lot of people consider suicide an inherently selfish decision. Obviously I disagree with the first perspective since I am not religious, but I also disagree with the second perspective, because a lot of people commit suicide because they think everyone else will be happier without them. This is certainly a dangerous and depressing mindset to have, but I don't think it is selfish.

Suicide is *almost* always done during a time of particular helplessness, whether due to mental illness or not. It is very rarely done following rational justification for the act. I think that it would be extremely controversial to make suicide a legal freedom, but I think that if it were to be made a legal right, there should be required counseling sessions with close friends/family involved before receiving a pain-free means of ending your life. I think that a lot of depressed people would agree to do this for the chance to get a pain-free means of suicide, because I have a few friends who have only not attempted suicide because they were afraid of the pain of cutting/hanging/overdosing. This way, the counselors would have the chance to identify treatable cases caused by mental illness, bullying, etc. versus people who have come to the logical conclusion that that is all that's left in their life. Similar to how patients may be given the option of lethal injection for some chronic medical cases (which is also controversial). I have not decided yet if suicide *should* be a legal right, but if it ever becomes that, this is the best way that I can imagine it being implemented.