On Psychiatry: Suicide as Sovereignty of the Soul

Provisionary Draft

"They tell us that Suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice...that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in this world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

I have recently come to be deeply troubled by the medical decisions that I helped facilitate. Clinically, suicidal intent is a proxy for altered mental status and is probable cause for psychiatric hospitalization. But why should this be the case? I can easily see how someone might rationally come to the conclusion of suicide. And sovereignty is a kind of determination that requires immediacy -- why should I wait for someone else's judgment of my competence? 

If society is as free as it should be, and if I own myself, then I ought to have the right to end my own life. It is of the same type as martyrdom -- a declaration of conviction: Life is not worth living!! 

Just as Socrates accepts the hemlock instead of exile, or the Buddhist monk sets himself on fire in protest of war, or Christ allows himself to be put on that cross for the sins of man, so too does the pessimist put a price on his life. 

And of course, I object to this answer, personally, socially, philosophically. But if the highest good is to treat others as ends, then I must not interfere, even when said interference would benefit the patient. 

Helplessly, my spineless self took solace in the small correspondences that I would have with worried parents, friends, and sisters. I assuaged their fears, just as I stamped out my own conscience. I convinced myself that I was carrying out moral good. And soon, I found that I had lost a part of my Kantian soul.