Suicide is a Murder
Suicide is a murder, and society is the murderer.
The person who ends his life is a victim of a lethal environment, cornered by expectations they were never engineered to carry.
How hard those ten minutes must be when taking one’s own life, and in those seven seconds, memories play through the mind. At what point did we all fail?
Suicide is an act defined by two different eras. Historically, a “willful” crime committed with a “hardened heart.” In modern eye view, a desperate response to an unbearable “psychache.” Murder means “unlawful and intentional killing of someone.” Historically, the law viewed suicide as murder, considering life as the property of a state. Today, punishing the victim is not capped by the state but by society. However, the analogy of murder remains hauntingly relevant. After every murder, we do investigate it with the question of WHY, so we apply this to suicide. Motives are often found in the psychological term ‘psychache,’ coined by the psychologist Edwin Shneidman (founder of modern suicidology) to describe unbearable mental pain. The reason is that they rarely act alone but are provoked by many factors that corner the victim.
Society provides the weapon through three distinct mechanisms: first, the Ladder of Comparison, which treats human worth as a competitive metric, forcing individuals to run an endless marathon toward an impossible perfection. Second, the Trap of Entrapment, where societal expectations become a cage with no exit. Like an animal that eventually accepts its cage as its only home, a person works day and night to meet these standards just to be granted the ‘privilege’ of staying inside. Finally, the Vortex of Isolation, where genuine emotional support is replaced by digital silence. After all of this, there is no one left in the room to ask, ‘Are you doing okay?’ In this void the stigma, the mental psychache, is nothing but “drama” and is confused by weak religious or superstitious beliefs.
The uncertainty at both extremes leads to failures. If you apply 1,000 lbs of pressure to a bridge designed for 500 lbs, you cannot blame the bridge for collapsing. Society comprises our parents, our schools, and our traditions. It loads the individual with ‘Unusual Expectations,’ demanding they carry the weight of ancestral pride and modern perfection. It sets standards that are impossible for the average spirit to sustain. When the ‘Bridge’ collapses, society stands at the funeral and speaks of ‘weakness.’ When a life is taken by one’s own hands, a victim still exists: the mother who loses the son, the community that loses the voice, and the future self who died with visions and a mission. Imagine a burdened soul, crushed under the weight of unnecessary expectations. The judgment of society has ruined a garden once filled with dreams and emotions. The pressure to be perfect is forced, instead of appreciating the efforts of simply being you.
But the logic is clear: The individual didn’t fail life; the architects of their environment failed them. This is not self-murder; it is structural homicide by a society that refuses to check the load-bearing capacity of its own people.
According to a recent WHO report, over 700,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds. (WHO, 2021–2025 estimates) Our society failed at the start of 2026. As per the reports of WHO, we lost 16000+ lives. By the time you finish reading this, 3 to 4 more victims will have surrendered to the pressure of an unlivable environment. History calls them criminals; the law calls them ‘cases’; but if we weigh the pressure of the world against the strength of the soul, we must call them what they truly are: victims of systemic failure.
Mental agony should not be dismissed as a lack of faith or a religious failing or ignored by using the terms “dramatic,” “possessed,” or “crazy”; it is a clinical emergency where psychologists, not moralists, must hold the ground. History calls them criminals; the law calls them “cases”; but if we weigh the pressure of the world against the strength of the soul, we must call them what they truly are: victims of systemic failure. Mental agony should not be dismissed as a lack of faith, a religious failing, or ignored by using terms like “dramatic,” “possessed,” or “crazy”; it is a clinical emergency where psychologists, not moralists, must hold the ground. We should break those stigmas that are running in our communities by raising awareness.
We are the victims; we are the murderers.
