Follow-up on "My loved one commited suicide"

Thanks to Alyson, Glenn & Wanda for your responses with regards to judging or not judging people who committed suicide. The reality of people taking their own lives is a fact we face in our world today. While some take their lives due to perceived situations they cannot control, there are also those who do so as a result of controllable situations. One of such situations beyond one's control is mental illness, which unfortunately, affects many people all over the world. In some areas of the world, the lack of professional help means that most people who struggle with this illness are not diagnosed, and those diagnosed may not have access to medications and other forms of treatment.

It is important to note that my initial premise is that every human being is good, because they are created in God's image and likeness. When people do things, they are either controlled by other factors or they make the choice themselves. Mental health patients often do not have control over what is going on on their lives. These situations may become so intense to them though not to any other person. For instance, when a person is hallucinating, the individual may actually (in his or her realm of auditory or visual super-ability) be seeing things and hearing voices curtesy of the brain being manipulated either by influx of sensations, chemicals or lack thereoff the proper sensations or chemicals. This can be seen in the case of a person whose psychotic episode is induced by the use of drugs like cannabis, cocaine or other mind-altering drugs. These drugs which contain powerful chemicals that affect the chemical balance in the body as well as the way the brain interprets reality send massive sensations that bombard the brain thereby producing the psychosis and strange behaviours therewith.

While some forms of mental state can be controlled by avoiding or taking certain things, one has to note that it is not up to any human being to judge one who commits suicide. We may judge that a person's attitude towards drugs is not healthy and try to help them quit. Most of those who commit suicide are good people deep down (and when they are not controlled by some other influences). There are also people pushed to the brinks by their situations, be they abuse, frustration with work or family, or wrong perception of life, religion, faith or race relations. I always remind myself that I cannot judge for judgement belongs to God alone.