When people take their own lives, they think that they are ending their pain. But, what they are doing in fact, is passing it on to the loved ones that they leave behind.
I was told that people who are severely depressed often take their lives when the chemicals in their brains get out of balance or get disrupted in some way. Healthy people do not do this even if it appears to be the case. Someone suffering from a depression is prevented from being able to look forward to anything at all, and they seem able to think only about the here and now and have lost the ability to imagine the future. They may not realize that they are ill and feel that there is no help for them out there. Seeking help could be the very last thing that they have in mind.
From what I have seen during all those years spent going in and out of psychiatric hospitals due to our son’s illness, they are unable to even think of their families and friends due to their illness and are consumed with emotional and often physical pain, that can become unbearable – they see the world in relation to themselves only.
Someone in that position is probably unable to see a way out. I am quite sure that they do not want to die, but it might be the only way they can find to end their pain. Of course, it is not a rational choice.
Nobody in the world chooses to be in a depression. The same way we don’t ask to get diabetes, cancer, or any other illness. we simply get it because it is an illness and the same thing occurs with depression.