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Originally Posted by Artchic528
Um...cancer ravages the body, physically breaking it down until one is incapable with life, unless treatment is done. Even then, it's not a surefire cure to the illness.
Mental illness, while it feels physical, is merely a chemical imbalance that is almost always cured to treatment.
To compare cancer to mental illness is like comparing apples and oranges. Two totally different parts of one's being.
Besides, cancer kills you by destroying your physical being, whether or not you want it to. With mental illness, it's a choice, and a selfish one.
I've seen three of my family members battle cancer and win, despite being on death's doorstep. To compare that horrible disease that I've witnessed slowly and cruelly ravage the body beyond recognition at times, to a mental illness that hardly ravages the body at all? It's very insulting to my family and myself.
It's okay to pass away, not kill yourself. One is a choice, the other isn't. I value life, and living and my family too much to want to hurt them with such a temporary solution to a fixable problem.
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What cancer does to someone physically, depression does psychologically. Breaks them down, changes the individual in ways they'll never really change back from and is determined to kill them. When I was sick, my body was trying to kill me while I was fighting to stay alive. With depression, my survival instincts are fighting to keep me alive while my depressed brain is trying to kill me. It's like one fight was mind vs body and the other was mind vs mind.
And no, there isn't always a cure to mental illness. Treatment doesn't help 100% of the people who suffer. For instance, not one single medication has helped my depression nor any kind of therapy. Same goes for my hallucinations and especially my PTSD. Yes, I'm still trying much like kept trying when I was sick and the tumor wouldn't go away. I've been told that my depression is treatment resistant. See the similarities?
I'm sorry this is insulting to you but, like you, I stand by my convictions. Cancer, mental illness, both are equally dangerous and tragic. And, much like seesaw, I've dealt with a psychotic breakdown that lead me to an attempt.
I didn't have a choice. To say that I did is insulting to me. To say that my friend who took their life was "selfish and stupid" is insulting to me and my friend's family. It's not always a choice like you say.