# Have Humans Developed Natural Defenses Against Suicide? - Author: **science.org** - Document Tags: [[phylosophical suicide]] - [URL link](https://www.science.org/content/article/have-humans-developed-natural-defenses-against-suicide)  ## Highlights - Humphrey concluded that suicide was likely the tragic byproduct of a vital adaptation: the sophisticated human brain. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnt2g1dpe3x4t10tw5w1tg)) --- - Such arguments may clash with the medical view that suicide is driven chiefly by psychiatric illness. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnthp3b22z55ga2sw0fb6x)) --- - faced with the persistent threat of suicide, humans have developed a set of defenses, such as religious beliefs, that are crucial elements of our culture and psychology. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnvaa5chyjmbzakq02yn9c)) --- - we are superbly designed to deal with anything life throws at us, but our antisuicide defenses are not fail-safe either," Soper says - Note: what are our "antisuicide defenses"? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnw7z1tzrd6xasmdb11est)) --- - When faced with agonizing pain, a sophisticated mind can think of death as an escape. I ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnxvd1kxmwwhk017aatpta)) --- - In the United States in 2017, about 4% of all adults, or nearly 10 million people, thought seriously of suicide, ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnyskz9xf50z9t7hkn5y2b)) --- - many cultures attempt to counter suicide by stigmatizing it or making it unthinkable. All major religions prohibit at least some forms of suicide, Soper says, as do many tribal customs. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcnzv7z4hr5f8rmepa7qw51)) --- - Most controversially, Soper proposes that mental illness itself can be a safeguard against suicide. He suggests certain mental disorders are associated with suicide because they were designed by natural selection to be last-line defenses against it. For example, he argues that the lack of initiative that accompanies depression may help prevent suicidal acts. - Note: so our biology/evolution deeply ingrains wanting to stay alive ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcp2rx3b51xgmwhfk7cs2af)) --- - Some suicidal people may mistakenly think they are reducing a burden on their loved ones. - Note: so the whole situation is kinda a "we have to be here so you do too"? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcp6vtvzmt0xkeyxm7tzcmy)) --- - To Joiner, "it couldn't be clearer" that those deaths are driven by psychiatric illness and that suicidal impulses must be treated as such. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcp6d9mfcr8c69qpaqvn3sj)) --- - Humphrey hopes this work may help patients. "I like to think that it might help a person if she could see why she has evolved to have a brain that is vulnerable to opting for this disastrous, short-term solution," he says. "A person who can see through the logic behind her suicidal impulses may be best placed to resist them." - Note: yes - this "short-term solution" so maybe related to immediate satisfaction/dopamine issues? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxcp8xng9x36f02mbsyn5xzv)) ---