The dictionary's definition of the word, suicide, is "the act of killing yourself because you do not want to continue living." - Merrian Webster
Each year, 42,773 American's deaths are defined by those 13 words.
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, but definitely, the #1 least understood. Everyone harbors their own opinions on suicide, most people don't understand mental illness until someone they love is affected by it or until they are affected by it themselves.
The word, "stigma" is defined as an "a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person." I have had conversations with people about reported suicides in the news or the community, and I always tend to hear the same pattern starting with, "their life wasn't even that bad why would they kill themselves?" A lot of people who really try to understand usually can reply, "They were sick", which in fact is completely true.
Mental illness is on its way to becoming destigmatized and treated like any other physical ailment. Mental illness is not a joke. You cannot physically see it, but it is as dangerous as many disorders and diseases that are diagnosed by symptoms obvious to the naked eye, with death being a risk in many cases.
So yes, someone who commits suicide is "sick", but there is more to it than that. Every person's mental illness or disorder is different because every person's brain is different. You may never know exactly what kinds of thoughts a person who has committed or attempted suicide was thinking and you may never understand why they felt so much pain, but all you can do is try to understand. You can learn, respect, or just help change the stigma surrounding mental illness and suicide one small step at a time.
If you have lost someone to a mental illness, there will always be someone else who needs you to reach out and help. If you have never lost anyone to a mental illness, people you know and love could be struggling at this very moment, but that stigma keeps people from getting help or talking about it. You're not crazy, even though that's how society makes it seem a lot of the time today.
I lost my uncle to suicide and I suffer from depression myself. I can understand to a certain extent how he felt. However, that is what makes me want to help people and try to do my part in changing what people think about the topic of mental illness. Help is not by any means ever a bad word. It does take a huge amount of strength to say, but once you help yourself...you'll be able to help someone else.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-8255