The Logic of Suicide

I think it is safe to say that suicide is one of the most traumatic events in all of human existence. But, I don't believe that should preclude us from discussing the subject. This post ties together the three elements of work, emotions, and paradoxes.

On the face of it, the idea that suicide is logical seems contradictory. It seems unacceptable. It doesn't make sense to most of us. However, to the person who commits the act, the decision contains its own logic. The fact that we may not understand does not mean the sufferer has not thought things through.

It may seem weird but suicide actually does relate to work and to business. Often times a company will think that their customers, or prospective customers, are acting irrationally. The producer of a new product, or service, usually has a picture, in his or her mind, of how their creation will be accepted by the market. And, as it turns out, things usually turn out other than planned.

Some years ago a company created motorized bicycles, to be sold to low income individuals, in third world countries. A fair number of bikes were sold but then something bizarre happened. All of a sudden, a lot of orders came in for just the motor. Meaning, people didn't want the whole bicycle, they just wanted the motor that powered the bike. This didn't make any sense.

The producer of the motorized bikes knew that these poor people needed reliably affordable transportation. They also knew that the motors were durable and could last a long time. They should not being breaking down. What's more, if consumers tried to take the motor, and attach them to their existing bicycle, they would spend much more than if they simply bought the preassembled product.

What were these crazy customers doing? Were they poor and dumb? This sort of scenarios plays out quite often. Most the time the producer tries to force the issue. Since the manufacturer often sees no use for a motor without a bike, they can be quite insistent that the customer is wrong. Then they refuse to sell the motor without the bicycle. That is a bad mistake.

As luck would have it, this particular company was wiser than most. Instead of pushing forward, against these “stupid” customers, the company went out and looked around. They went to see, with their own eyes, why these silly peasants didn't want the entire bike. What they found surprised them.

People were using the bicycles, to get around, but they also didn't mind pedaling themselves. So the motorized bikes weren't a huge draw. However, humans are ingenious and these customers found a better use for the bicycles. As it turns out, there exists a bigger headache than pedaling yourself around on a bike. The bigger challenge is transporting water.

The majority of the people, who bought these motorized bicycles, were indeed low income. And, the way they make the little money that they do is by farming. Many of them would farm rice. As it happens, rice requires extensive irrigation. It requires a lot of water.

What these poor and “dumb” people discovered was that the motor, from these new bikes, could be rigged up to propel water and irrigate their fields. This was something they wanted! Pedaling a bike is relatively easy. Watering your rice fields can be a real pain in the butt.

To this company's credit, they went and looked at the situation. In a moment the company changed course and got into the farming business. They adapted the motors and sold them specifically to water the fields. Most companies don't do this. People tend to be more stubborn. Instead of accepting that their ingenious invention is more useful somewhere else, most people refuse to change. They simply conclude that people are crazy or irrational. They continue producing what they want to produce instead of making what people what to buy. This is a big mistake.

Peter Drucker once said that there are no irrational customers, there are only lazy producers. And, as usual, Peter was right. Instead of assuming people are crazy it's better to assume people are pretty smart. Your customers are fully capable of thinking. And, when they do, they come up with some wild stuff. No producer of bicycles could have predicted that their real success would come in farming. And, because they are so committed to bikes, most producers would be unable to exploit an opportunity that lay right before their eyes. Most people wouldn't even try to look. Then there are those that would look and they would see what is happening. Yet they would still decide to continue making bicycles.

In a weird way, this brings us to suicide. The majority of people, who commit suicide, are suffering from depression. Depression is an emotion. It's kind of like sadness on steroids. And, suicide is, sometimes, the paradoxical solution. Thankfully we have people like Martin Seligman.

Seligman is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1967 he was conducting experiments with dogs. In one condition the dogs were repeatedly administer a shock and, understandably, they jumped to a new location were there was not shock. In the second condition the dogs were again shocked. But, this time, they could not move to escape the shock. Before long the dogs realized there was nothing they could do and they stopped trying to avoid the shocks. They had learned that they were helpless to change their situation.

This became known as the theory of learned helplessness, and it's a really big deal. I won't get into it here but this experiment completely upended the world of psychology. Until this point, psychology was dominated by Skinner's theory of behavioralism. The behavior of these dogs violated the prediction of the behavioralist theory. Seligman's insight ushered in the age of cognitive psychology.

That's not the end of the story. A third experiment was ran on these dogs. This time, once again, the dogs were given a safe zone. Meaning, they were able to escape the shocks. But something really interesting happened. Even though the dogs could escape the shock, many of them chose not to. They were simply resigned to their lot and they sat there enduring the shocks. Meaning, the dogs had come to learn, to believe, they were helpless.

Seligman would argue, this is what is usually at the center of depression. Over time, depressed people have come to believe there is nothing they can do to fix the problems in their life. They suffer. And they can suffer for a long time. Eventually, some come to believe the situation will never improve. They get stuck. And, this belief gets stronger and deeper every day.

Some people come to believe there is nothing they can do. They believe they are permanently stuck in misery. For some of these people death is the only way to end the suffering. And, that is what they choose. As paradoxical as it is, some people come to believe that death is the only way to end suffering. This is the logic of suicide.

Please understand, in no way am I advocating suicide as a good option. I was simply trying to illustrate that people are logical and they do think things through. This story has more to it that you must hear. Suicide does have a logic, but it also has a mistake. In the majority of situations there is a way to fix the problems of life.

The majority of people, who choose to end their own lives, had problems that could have been fixed. I'm not saying they didn't try. And, I'm not saying fixing problems is easy. But, for whatever reason, this particular person couldn't solve this particular problem. This is where it becomes extremely important that we destigmatize depression. As it stands, a lot of bias swirls around what we call “mental illness” (a term I am not a fan of.)

Nobody wants to be labeled “crazy” or “mentally ill.” Often for pride, and other understandably vain reasons, people who are suffering do not reach out for help. As I've said, most problems can be fixed. However, when a person repeatedly tries, and fails, the problem is compounded. Instead of believing the problem is difficult, this person can start to believe that he or she is defective or is a failure. It can easily become a downward spiral.

Not even for one second am I suggesting that I have all the answers. The reason for this post is very simple. It breaks my heart to see people believe they are so stuck that they give up on life. We all have problems, some worse than others. Just because a person is having difficulty with their struggles, does not make them crazy or mentally ill. As a substitute I guess I kind of like the term “troubled.” Maybe we should says that the person is “troubled” or “has troubles.” I really like that second one. To me, “has troubles” suggests impermanence. And, most problems, most troubles, are not permanent.

Don't get me wrong. I am as guilty as anyone. I have called people crazy before. And I have, hopefully, learned from my mistake. What I've learned is that I called someone crazy when I didn't know much about them. What I've learned is that, before we label a person crazy, maybe we should take a lesson from a bicycle manufacturer. Maybe we should go out and look. Maybe we should try to understand.