Help Tools For Assessing Your Own Quality Of Life?

[kane]

I find it extremely hard to think rationally about suicide. I'm terrified of death, and I'm not sure there are any circumstances that would drive me to actually ctb, no matter how bad the pain got. But I would like to develop some control over that, so I'm not forced to endure the worst this life has to offer.

What I struggle with is identifying points at which suicide would become the sensible/rational choice. The few public figures I've heard who take suicide seriously have focused on chronic/terminal illnesses, reasoning that pain, loss of function, and no hope of recovery justify suicide.

I'm not terminally ill, but I am physically uncomfortable or in low level pain much of the time. While it's possible that might improve with treatment, experience suggests it only gets worse as I age. There are still little things I enjoy in life, but year on year that is slowly overwhelmed by suffering. I would say that I'm chronically depressed, and I'm extremely anxious most of the time. I also have no plausible hope of forming meaningful connections with others, so there's very little to make tolerating suffering seem worthwhile.

Has anyone come across any writers/thinkers/philosophers who address suicide in a detailed and rational way (rather than through an absurdist/existentialist lens)? It would help so much to have some framework to judge my circumstances more clearly, unclouded by emotional fluctuations and fear of death.

 

[antigone_iris]

Maybe this will help? It's quite lengthy, but you might find it useful.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK235120/

 

[kane]

Maybe this will help? It's quite lengthy, but you might find it useful.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK235120/

Thanks. I think I'm looking for something more focused on what level of quality of life it's reasonable to endure, taking the option of exiting seriously.

 

[woxihuanni]

I use this

Bristol stool scale - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

Has anyone come across any writers/thinkers/philosophers who address suicide in a detailed and rational way (rather than through an absurdist/existentialist lens)?

There's a lot in one thread about Stoic view on death and suicide. This comment in particular from that thread lists the five rational reasons for suicide in Stoic philosophy.

The Stoics likened life to a party, and determined there were five reasons to rationally exit the party (suicide):

1. In service of one's country, i.e., an old friend shows up to the party and requires your services.

2. The arrival of rowdy revelers, i.e., tyrants who force us against our will to say or do disgraceful things at the party.

3. Protracted illness that prevents the soul from the use of its tool, the body, i.e., spoilage of provisions for the party.

4. Poverty, i.e., scarceness of party provisions.

5. Madness, i.e., drunkenness at the party. In Buddhist terms, intoxicants lower one's inhibitions against doing no harm to others and, by default, to the self. In Stoic terms, this equates to lowering the inhibitions put in place by practicing virtue. According to Epictetus, the purpose of practicing virtue is for life to flow more smoothly, and as social animals, virtues directly impact our interactions with others. This agrees with the purpose of the Five Precepts of Buddhism, considered gifts to others for the good of social order (no killing, no stealing, no lying, no sexual misconduct, no intoxicants).



Source: Griffin, Miriam. "Philosophy, Cato, and Roman Suicide I," Greece and Rome, vol. 33, no. 1, 1986, pp. 64-77. Original source cited by Griffin, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, a 1903-1905 collection by Hans von Arnim of fragments and testimony of the earlier Stoics. The Buddhist/Stoic commentary under madness is mine.

The source article and article II by Griffin are available for free online viewing at JSTOR.

 

[PointlessStruggle]

I'd say when your life's default state is actively unpleasant. For me my neutral state is sort of bleh. Just sitting around or whatever. If I ever ended up suffering an inescapable agony that followed me ceaselessly I would probably ctb Asap

 

[SmellyRat]

Has anyone come across any writers/thinkers/philosophers who address suicide in a detailed and rational way (rather than through an absurdist/existentialist lens)? It would help so much to have some framework to judge my circumstances more clearly, unclouded by emotional fluctuations and fear of death.

Hope this helps.

 

[kane]

I'd say when your life's default state is actively unpleasant. For me my neutral state is sort of bleh. Just sitting around or whatever. If I ever ended up suffering an inescapable agony that followed me ceaselessly I would probably ctb Asap

That's hard to judge for me. I'd say my default state is mild discomfort.