I honestly wonder if these people stop to think what grief is going to be caused to those that are left to deal with their selfish acts
I'm very sorry DF that your life has seemingly been so affected.
Those that go to these lengths do so because they see it as the only way to end the suffering that they are going through. They die as the result of an illness no different than had they had heart disease or cancer. Mental illness is still not accepted by many in the community as a legitimate disease, which is most unfortunate, because that very fact is one of the drivers for people not admitting they have a problem, and for them to seek the necessary help.
Take a moment to think of the depths of despair that an individual must be in to even contemplate taking their life, let alone following through and actually carrying it out.
There is nothing selfish about the act, I think such feelings are akin to survivor guilt. The survivors seek some reason to absolve themselves from being in some way responsible, which is of course misplaced. The end result is your father in law, such is the stigma attached.
I live in a small town and suicide I'm afraid is all too common, from teenagers to adults.
Some facts
Suicide is the leading cause of death in Australia for men under 44 and women under 34. The most recent Australian data (ABS, Causes of Death, 2009) reports deaths due to suicide at 2,132. That equates to 6 deaths by suicide a day, or one every four hours.
For every completed suicide it is estimated that as many as 30 people attempt.
That’s 180 attempts per day
That’s more than one new attempt in Australia, every 10 minutes
It is estimated that 249 people make a suicide plan everyday
It is estimated that as many as 1014 people think about suicide every day