Why are humans capable of suicide and self inflicted injuries?

Question

Isn't this a paradox to Evolution?

BTW, if you're going to tell me that its because of our emotions, have in mind that all species mammals experience similar emotions as well - Pain, depression, fear, pleasure, frustration etc. Why don't cougars off themselves?

Answer 1

becoz they think life is a punishment to them.....

they think its a curse on them......

and they think if there life ends there problems will end..

thats it.

Answer 2

We make life too complicated and make it about families and friends and reputations and money, rather than survival.

Answer 3

Basically the things we need to do to stay alive are stressful.

In the animal kingdom, you just need to kill something else, and then BAM!  Dinner.

But here, we need money.  Killing an animal at random is unacceptable.  To get money we need a stressful job, to get a stressful job we need school.

Stress and then loneliness.  Humans are the only species I know that get lonely.  Not sure why about that...

Anyway, if stress takes over than people generally want out.

Answer 4

i hate it when people ask science-y questions...

Answer 5

its almost like you make your self believe stuff that's not true,based off your emotions. its all in our heads.

Answer 6

well, youre not going to like my answer because.. youre just not.

God made humans and animals the same except for one thing.  Humans have a spirit.

animals dont.

this gives humans have the capability of deciding things other animals cant.

Answer 7

umm...I wouldnt consider it a paradox...for all we know, we could have evolved to commit suicide, natures way of bringing down the population.

Answer 8

It's a combination of emotions and the mind's inability to cope with them.  People of sound mind & body don't kill themselves, its people with mental and/or emotional problems who kill themselves.  These people lack the ability to adapt and overcome to the traumas (perceived and/or real) in their lives.  Perhaps a teenager kills himself because of the broken heart he suffers at the hands of the "girl he can't live without."  Or perhaps it is the mother whose only child dies that kills herself because she cannot bear the horrid feeling of loss.  There are too many reasons that humans take their own lives, but most of them are a result of the superior beings inability to cope with their emotions because of some sort of brain disfunction.  The problem lies when the superior mind of a human realizes or assumes that the grief or depression or angst that it feels will never go away.  The superior mind of the human "knows" that it "should" put itself out of its misery.

Of course this is only my theory.  I have come to form this theory by dealing with the people in my own family that are suicidal or dealing with the loss of a family member due to suicide.  My mother & Grandmother have manic depressive bi-polar disorder which makes them feel incredibly sad and hopeless most of the time, so they have both talked about, threatened and attempted suicide several times.  My cousin got pregnant by her older sister's husband and killed herself "to spare herself, the baby, and everyone else the hurt & shame of what she had done."  Those were her words for why she killed herself and those words demontrate the mind's fear of the emotions it is asked to deal with.

Answer 9

because animal's #1 is survival.  that said, we are capable of more complex thought.  and with that, put in depression (chemical imbalance) as well as outside emotional and psychological influences, you have a person hurting.  this hurting person, if the pain is great enough will go through any lenghts to end it.  I say outside influences because a happy person doesn't hurt themself, right?  If a person has outside influences (factors they cannot control) that is causing them pain, emotional, physical, psychological, etc, they want to end it.  

Some people will cut or mutilate themselves to actually FEEL something.  i think usually this is from an emotional or psychological abuse.  some people feel dead inside and will accept pain as a reassurance that they are capable yet, or that is a distraction.  Pain is for certain.  If I cut myself,(for example) i will experience a burning sensation, it will bleed, etc.  That is something, up to a point they can control.

Some will mutilate or self inflict because they think if they appear damaged it will be less appealing (in the case, mostly of sexual abuse) and abuse will end.  the abuser will find their victim unattractive and leave them alone.

god, this has so many topics than these few examples.  I think the biggest  problem is hopelessness.  they feel depressed and some people cannot cope.

so how WOULD a cougar off themself?

Maybe all those lemurs jumping off cliffs after another really aren't stupid animals, they're just depressed?

Answer 10

Human beings by their very nature are self-centered; suicide is the most blatant form of selfishness.

Answer 11

Because COUGARS DONT HAVE THE BRAIN CAPACITY FOR REASON AS HUMANS DO. A COUGARS NATURAL INSTINCT IS TO KILL, EAT, SLEEP. SOMETIMES AN ANIMAL WILL JUST GIVE UP IF SICK AN LET SOMETHIN KILL IT. BUT FOR THE MOST PART A COUGAR DOSENT HAVE THE KIND OF HIGHER THOUHT THAT HUMANS HAVE.

Answer 12

because we have the capacity to feel shame....oh, and we have opposable thumbs

EDIT:  Opposable thumbs man, the thumbs!!!  Thumbs are not an emotion!! Yes I know, I mentioned shame, but really it's the thumbs

Answer 13

extremely good question i wonder too

i dont know if youve ever seen The Happening but in that movie a chemical is given off that causes the self preservation method in your brain to be changed so they kill themselves

humans have a built in self preservation method but i guess it can be changed ...idk

Answer 14

People are idiots who either want attention or who actually believe that cutting themselves makes them feel better.

Answer 15

the reason that all animals don't do this is that humans actually reason most people start to make them selves believe that they would be better off died or everyone would be happier or that this will make the pain stop or it takes there mind off of it we are the only species of animal that reasons.

Answer 16

Because we have the ability to reason, whereas other animals just rely on instinct, and therefore their survival instinct keeps them alive.

Also, they live simpler lives than us, just trying to survive, so they aren't going to really get trapped in despair as easily.

Answer 17

because when other species focus on survival they have a purpose that both entertains them and occupies them.  We on the other hand have everything given to us, we lack a purpose so we get  depressed

Also i think it has to do with the fact that religion makes death seem almost good.

Answer 18

how do you know they don't.

Answer 19

because in the right place at the right time, the thoughts are all too tempting.

And, uh, yeah it's emotions, well actually a soul (which is tied to emotions). You're correct in that mammals have similar emotions... but that's the thing, Similar, not the same.

Do you know of a monkey who cheated on their partner, and caused a whole mess of trouble? Or of a cat that blames himself for their father's death?

No, because animals may have emotion, and some individuality, but they don't have a soul.

Which is what we are cursed/blessed with, depending on how you use it.

GEEZ MAN I'm starting to think you are a monkey!! And BTW i am not an emotion junky either, but the soul is the ONLY thing we have and they don't... so it has to be that. what the heck else could it be?!? And elephants cry, ok fine. It's because they see it as loss. Loss is EASY to comprehend.... here, gone. the end. Committing suicide is something more complex. The idea itself is simple, but the steps getting there is not. And the steps getting there take a human mind and a soul, which is why animals don't "off" themselves because they are missing a crucial ingredient!!

Answer 20

Emotions? Hardly! More likely intelligence and understanding the concept of time. WE are the ONLY species that can look in a mirror and see our own morality. We are completely "self-aware" and know we will one day die. NO animal has this same self-realization about impending certain death. Suicide is nothing more than self-murder. Human beings are the only species so STUPID as to murder themselves (or others) or even to hurt themselves on purpose.