A Credit Card Suicide

I was reading a recent article in the UK about a Swiss clinic, Dignitas. The Zurich based assisted suicide clinic is thinking of opening an office in the UK in response to a higher demand for its services.

Reading the article reminded me of a conversation I had the other day with someone from South Africa. It was a conversation that I have had many times over my years of helping people. The person felt that they had failed financially and that suicide was the only way out.

There is a saying in the United States, “Guns Don’t Kill People. People Kill People.” It could easily be applied to debt, “Debt Doesn’t Kill People. People Kill Themselves.”

It is indisputable that the emotional trauma of financial problems can be severe. I can think of a couple of reported stories over the years where the specific cause of suicide was linked to financial problems.

Take the sensational case of the university student that hanged herself over her bed of credit card bills, or the printing company executive that returned home from gambling and killed his entire family.

Logically, there is never a single good reason for someone to contemplate suicide due to debt. And don’t even give me that argument that “I’m worth more dead than alive due to the insurance.”

There are always solutions to debt problems. Always! Problem debt is often the outgrowth of other underlying issues. Take the university student. She came from a dysfunctional single parent household where she essentially raised her mother. She had no siblings or close family. She felt all alone. When she got in over her head the financial problems felt overwhelming, and feeling alone did not help the situation. Feeling that she had no one to turn to for help and no hope of ever dealing with the problem, she killed herself. She owed about £12,000.

The printing executive left a suicide note and said that the reason he killed his wife and children was because he was too ashamed to tell them of his financial failure.

The point here is that the best solution to an overwhelming financial problem is never suicide. Never! If your financial situation feels overwhelming then you need to reach out for expert professional financial help. And never accept that there are not solutions. There are always solutions. If you don’t know where to turn for help, contact Myvesta.org.uk.

If you know someone that is talking about suicide, help them to get help. One place you can contact is Samaritans.org. They have many local offices across the UK. If you want to know more about the warning signs of suicide, click here.

In closing, remember that suicide is often a permanent solution to a temporary problem.