question: Why is the human brain susceptible to suicide? If survival is the main goal, why would our brains allow themselves to consider self-termination?
comment: Well, I suppose partly because it is harder to sustain natural patterns (striving for survival) in an unnatural environment. Indigenous people who have been "civilized" or made part of modern society have some of the highest suicide rates. For them, the contast between their earlier life and modern life is the starkest and hardest to deal with. Evolutionary speaking, human beings never were meant to or prepared for being so isolated and alone as they are in modern society and that sense of isolation is even harsher when you are being discriminated for being of a certain race, transgender o for whatever reason. Evolutionary speaking, a human being simply isn't very well equipped to deal with such situations, because a strong (sense of) community has always been crucial for human survival. So it's really not too surprising that when these natural patterns of community and belonging break down, so do some human beings.
passages: The literature on this subject consistently shows that a family history of committed suicide in first-degree relatives, adverse childhood experiences (parental loss and emotional, physical and sexual abuse), and adverse life situations (unemployment, isolation and acute psychosocial stressors) are associated with suicide risk.
   Factors that affect the risk of suicide include mental disorders, drug misuse, psychological states, cultural, family and social situations, and genetics. Mental disorders and substance misuse frequently co-exist. Other risk factors include having previously attempted suicide, the ready availability of a means to take one's life, a family history of suicide, or the presence of traumatic brain injury. For example, suicide rates have been found to be greater in households with firearms than those without them.
   Section::::Desire for suicide.:Perceived burdensomeness.
  
  Perceived burdensomeness is the belief that one is a burden on others or society. Joiner describes perceived burdensomeness as the belief that "my death is worth more than my life". Unemployment, medical or health problems, and incarceration are examples of situations in which a person may feel like they are a burden to others. It is important to note that the burdensomeness is "perceived", and is often a false belief. According to the theory, thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness together constitute the desire for suicide.
  
  Section::::Acquired capability.
   It is generally considered that humans are the only known beings to use weapons when putting an end to their own life. Some species might be driven to engage in suicidal behavior for the sake of others, which is an example of altruism in animals. These actions are performed when the reproductive fitness of others outweighs the reproductive fitness of the individual. There are examples of animals dying in defense of their family or colony, such as the case of pea aphids increasing their chances of death as a response to parasitism. Vervet monkeys will alert others when a predator is near, consequently drawing attention to itself and increasing their likelihood of being attacked.
   Joiner terms this "acquired" capability because it is not an ability with which humans are born. Rather, this ability to engage in suicidal behaviors is only acquired through life experiences. Fear of death is a natural and powerful instinct. According to the theory, one's fear of death is weakened when one is exposed to physical pain or provocative life experiences as these experiences often lead to fearlessness and pain insensitivity. These experiences could include childhood trauma, witnessing a traumatic event, suffering from a severe illness, or engaging in self-harm behaviors.
   Low levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are both directly associated with suicide and indirectly associated through its role in major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive–compulsive disorder. Post-mortem studies have found reduced levels of BDNF in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, in those with and without psychiatric conditions. Serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter, is believed to be low in those who die by suicide. This is partly based on evidence of increased levels of 5-HT2A receptors found after death. Other evidence includes reduced levels of a breakdown product of serotonin, 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid, in the cerebral spinal fluid. Direct evidence is however hard to gather. Epigenetics, the study of changes in genetic expression in response to environmental factors which do not alter the underlying DNA, is also believed to play a role in determining suicide risk.
   Genetics might influence rates of completed suicides. A family history of suicide, especially in the mother, affects children more than adolescents or adults. Adoption studies have shown that this is the case for biological relatives, but not adopted relatives. This makes familial risk factors unlikely to be due to imitation. Once mental disorders are accounted for, the estimated heritability rate is 36% for suicidal ideation and 17% for suicide attempts. An evolutionary explanation for suicide is that it may improve inclusive fitness. This may occur if the person dying by suicide cannot have more children and takes resources away from relatives by staying alive. An objection is that deaths by healthy adolescents likely does not increase inclusive fitness. Adaptation to a very different ancestral environment may be maladaptive in the current one.
   Socio-economic problems such as unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and discrimination may trigger suicidal thoughts. Suicide might be rarer in societies with high social cohesion and moral objections against suicide. About 15–40% of people leave a suicide note. War veterans have a higher risk of suicide due in part to higher rates of mental illness such as post traumatic stress disorder and physical health problems related to war. Genetics appears to account for between 38% and 55% of suicidal behaviors. Suicides may also occur as a local cluster of cases.
  
  Section::::Risk factors.:Mental illness.
   Depression is a major causative factor of suicide, and individuals suffering from depression are considered a high-risk group for suicidal behavior. However, suicidal behaviour is not just restricted to patients diagnosed with some form of depression. More than 90% of all suicides are related to a mood disorder, such as bipolar disorder, Depression, or other psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia. The deeper the depression, the greater the risk, often manifested in feelings or expressions of apathy, helplessness, hopelessness, or worthlessness.
   Recent life events can act as precipitants. Significant interpersonal loss and family instability, such as bereavement, poor relationship with family, domestic partner violence, separation, and divorce have all been identified as risk factors. Financial stress, unemployment, and a drop in socioeconomic status can also be triggers for a suicidal crisis. This is also the case for a range of acute and chronic health problems, such as pain syndromes, or diagnoses of conditions like HIV or cancer.
  
  Section::::Mental state.
   Section::::Risk factors.:Other factors.
  
  Trauma is a risk factor for suicidality in both children and adults. Some may take their own lives to escape bullying or prejudice. A history of childhood sexual abuse and time spent in foster care are also risk factors. Sexual abuse is believed to contribute to approximately 20% of the overall risk. Significant adversity early in life has a negative effect on problem-solving skills and memory, both of which are implicated in suicidality.
   Herodotus wrote: "When life is so burdensome, death has become for man a sought-after refuge". Schopenhauer affirmed: "They tell us that suicide is the greatest act of cowardice... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person."
   Section::::Nature.
   In many cases, suicide is an attempt to escape a situation that causes unbearable suffering. A majority of those that commit suicide suffer from depression, alcoholism, or mental health problems such as bipolar disorder. Some that commit suicide have organic disorders such as brain trauma and epilepsy.
  
  Section::::Views on suicidal people.
  
  Section::::Views on suicidal people.:Legal.
   The previously mentioned studies point out the difficulty that mental health professionals have in motivating individuals to seek and continue treatment. Ways to increase the number of individuals who seek treatment may include:
  
  BULLET::::- Increasing the availability of therapy treatment in early stage
  
  BULLET::::- Increasing the public’s knowledge on when psychiatric help may be beneficial to them
  
  BULLET::::- Those who have adverse life conditions seem to have just as much risk of suicide as those with mental illness
   Section::::Federal budget.
  
  The 2018 federal budget expanded mental health screenings for veterans.
  
  Section::::Causes.
  
  A study published in the "Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine" found that,
  
  The same study also found that in veterans with PTSD related to combat experience, combat-related guilt may be a significant predictor of suicidal ideation and attempts.
  
  Craig Bryan of the University of Utah National Center for Veterans Studies said that veterans have the same risk factors for suicide as the general population, including feelings of depression, hopelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder, a history of trauma, and access to firearms.
   A nonfatal suicide attempt is the strongest known clinical predictor of eventual suicide. Suicide risk among self-harm patients is hundreds of times higher than in the general population. It is often estimated that about 10–15% of attempters eventually die by suicide. The mortality risk is highest during the first months and years after the attempt: almost 1% of individuals who attempt suicide are successful in ending their lives if the attempt is repeated within one year. A recent meta-analytic evidence suggests that the association between suicide attempt and suicidal death may not be as strong as it was thought before.
   This apparent cycle of alienation can cause feelings of helplessness where the only foreseeable resolution may be suicide. There is an identified link between severe mental illness and subsequent suicide. One predictor of suicide is a lack of social integration. Dating back to the late nineteenth century, Durkheim illustrated that highly integrated societies with strong social bonds and a high degree of social cohesion have low suicide rates. Social integration consists of many sources such as religious, social, and political memberships. Relationships within the community and other individuals can create a better quality of life that decreases the chance of becoming mentally ill and of committing suicide.
   Sidney Homan describes "Quad’s" world as a "faceless, emotionless one of the far future, a world where people are born, go through prescribed movements, fear non-being (E) even though their lives are meaningless, and then they disappear or die." This raises a philosophical question, one the writer Albert Camus tried to answer in his essay, "The Myth of Sisyphus": Face to face with the meaninglessness of existence, what keeps us from suicide? What stops any of the four players from simply hurling themselves into the "danger zone"? To a large extent, Camus suggests that our instinct for life is much stronger than our reasons for suicide: "We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking." We instinctively avoid facing the full consequences of the meaningless nature of life, through what Camus calls an "act of eluding."
   Another current study done by Gnilka, Ashby, and Noble, looked at "adult attachment styles and the psychological outcomes, like hopelessness and life satisfaction, using maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism as the mediators." (Gnika, Ashby, & Noble, 2013) The results show that having high levels of avoidant or anxiety attachment will cause low maladaptive perfectionism, which overall makes one more likely to have low life satisfaction and high levels of hopelessness. These findings can benefit counselors when working with patients who have problems with perfectionism.
  
  Section::::Today and future.:Current research.:Relationship to female suicide attempts.
   BULLET::::- Childhood residential instability
  
  BULLET::::- Certain studies associate those who experience suicidal ideation with family disruption.
  
  Section::::Risk factors.:Relationships with parents and friends.
   Certain personality factors, especially high levels of neuroticity and introvertedness, have been associated with suicide. This might lead to people who are isolated and sensitive to distress to be more likely to attempt suicide. On the other hand, optimism has been shown to have a protective effect. Other psychological risk factors include having few reasons for living and feeling trapped in a stressful situation. Changes to the stress response system in the brain might be altered during suicidal states. Specifically, changes in the polyamine system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.
   Today the reasons for suicide are many, and the ways to achieve it are broad. In earlier eras, some found it to be the only way to redeem them from failure. Elise Garrison said that many ancient suicidal victims, “[were] determined to regain lost honor and restore equilibrium to society”.
  
  Garrison also refers to the works of Émile Durkheim. She says that Durkheim talks about people being in different types and categories. Determining what category they are in, could decide the reason they would commit suicide. “Durkheim’s categories [are] —egoistic, altruistic, anomic, fatalistic”.
   BULLET::::- Other studies have found that tobacco use is correlated with depression and suicidal ideation
  
  BULLET::::- Unplanned pregnancy
  
  BULLET::::- Bullying, including cyberbullying and workplace bullying
  
  BULLET::::- Previous suicide attempts
  
  BULLET::::- Having previously attempted suicide is one of the strongest indicators of future suicidal ideation or suicide attempts
  
  BULLET::::- Military experience
  
  BULLET::::- Military personnel who show symptoms of PTSD, major depressive disorder, alcohol use disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder show higher levels of suicidal ideation
  
  BULLET::::- Community violence
  
  BULLET::::- Undesired changes in body weight
  
  BULLET::::- Women: increased BMI increases chance of suicidal ideation
   Section::::Risk factors.:Life events.
  
  Life events are strong predictors of increased risk for suicidal ideation. Furthermore, life events can also lead to or be comorbid with the previous listed psychiatric disorders and predict suicidal ideation through those means. Life events that adults and children face can be dissimilar and for this reason, the list of events that increase risk can vary in adults and children. The life events that have been shown to increase risk the greatest are
  
  BULLET::::- Alcohol abuse
  
raw_presuppositions: Human brain is wired for survival at all costs.
raw_corrections: Human beings are not wired for modern civilization which leads to struggles that can make trying to survive more difficult. 