Notes on a Nervous Planet

by Matt Haig

We also don’t really know how to talk about suicide. When we do talk about it we tend to use that verb—commit— which carries connotations of taboo and criminality, an echo of the days when it was criminal. (I have recently been trying to say “death by suicide” but it still feels a bit forced and false on my tongue.) Many people struggle to deal with the very idea of taking your own life, as it seems a kind of insult to us all, if you see suicide as a choice, because someone has chosen to give up on living, this sacred precious thing, as fragile as a bird’s egg. But personally I know that suicide isn’t such a clear-cut choice. It can be something you dread and fear but feel compelled toward because of the new pain of living. So, it’s uncomfortable, talking about it. But talk we must, because an atmosphere of shame and silence prevents people getting the right help and can make them feel more freakishly lonely. It can, in short, be fatal.