Is Suicide "Selfish?"

I don't wish to create controversy on a friend's blog, and she is not the one that used the word "selfish" in regards to suicide anyway, it was a commenter who did so. So I am not going to leave a link to the blog. However, I did wish to share my thoughts on the matter.

I lost a cousin, a friend, and someone who was very special in almost a romantic way. My brother lost one of his friends. I've dealt with suicide ideation on and off throughout my life.

For those who think of suicide as "selfishness," I believe this is an erroneous idea. The pain that the person is suffering at the moment they make such a decision is indescribable. It is not for the rest of us to call them selfish. It is an erroneous decision--in most cases. But error and selfishness are two different things. 

My cousin was not a selfish person. She lived with medication resistant depression for her entire life. She was unable to endure it any more.

Of the three young men I mentioned above who committed suicide--my friend, my brother's friend, and the special fellow I mentioned--all of them suffered from clinical depression and other issues. 

Do I wish they hadn't done it? Yes. But it is erroneous to adjudge them "selfish."