Here's what keeps me from committing suicide, when I'm really depressed:

There really is no good way to do it that is available to me. Every method I know of involves pain, misery and the possibility that the attempt might fail, leaving me alive and more damaged. I'm looking to escape pain . . . not cause it.

The best, most pain-free way to terminate life is the way veternarians euthanize our pets when they are old and suffering. That involves the intravenous injection of a large dose of barbiturate. Humans don't have that option.

Swallowing a bunch of pills could result in long hours of suffering, while you wait for the end. In physician-assisted suicide, where the doctor prescribes a bunch of sleeping pills (like Seconal), some people have lasted 48 hours.

I've seen two people who survived self-inflicted gunshot to the head. They thought they had a fool-proof method. They found out that just about no human plan is foolproof. They lived, but they were in persistant vegetative states. Even if a person inflicts a lethal shot, what are those last few moments like? Could be pretty painful.

There is a theory that says the mind does not necessarily lose awareness as soon as heartbeat and respirations stop. As long as there is oxygenated blood inside the skull, parts of the brain might still function. I'm not eager to experience that.

I've researched it. I haven't found a guaranteed pain-free way to go.