自杀和生命的意义——来自脑科学研究的解读

生命本身是一个随机事件，并不具有高尚的意义。进化的结果使人类可通过工作、家庭和人际关系等给予自己的生命以意义感。当我们的生活方式使脑内奖赏系统获得刺激，就会带来生命具有意义的感受，这种感受给人带来更好的生存机会。生存的欲望是一切生物体最具特征的属性，一些精神疾病患者缺乏这种欲望。自杀主要发生于精神疾病患者，它并非是基于自由意志的行为。抗精神病治疗和适当的社会交往可以预防自杀。由于不同个体有着不同的大脑，人们的生活方式就应该去适应各自大脑的特征。只要人们的生活方式不对他人造成过多的伤害，政府就应该允许和保护人们自由地按照各自的方式生活。

Understanding of Suicide and the Meaning of Life: A Brain Research Point of View

（1.School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058， China|2.Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience， an Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences， Meibergdreef 47， 1105 BA Amsterdam， The Netherlands）〖WTBZ〗〖JZ)〗〖KH*2D〗〖WTHZ〗Abstract： 〖WTBZ〗Life started 3.8 billion years ago as a competition between molecules. Mankind was the result of the subsequent evolution， characterized by the selection of the best fitting random mutations. This means that life as such is a random event without higher meaning. As a result of evolution， our well-developed cerebral cortex makes us endow ourselves with the ability to create our own meaning of life， by work， hobbies， children and relationships. The illusion that life has meaning arises when the way we live is pleasant， which is accompanied by stimulation of the reward system in our brains. There is also an evolutionary advantage to this: it leads to a better chance of survival. As our brains are all different as a result of different genetics and the different ways in which they developed， we have to adapt the way we live to the way our brain has developed in order to get a ″tailor-made″ stimulation of our reward system． The desire to live is the most characteristic property of all living organisms， but in some psychiatric disorders this desire is absent， and this may lead to suicide. Suicide is not really a choice: most suicide attempters have a psychiatric disorder， e.g. depression， addiction or schizophrenia，which causes them to no longer experience the feeling of reward that living a life generally offers. In addition， these disorders may go together with anxiety and delusions， both of which stimulate the wish to die. Psychiatric treatment and appropriate social interactions are the way to prevent suicide. In this concept of suicide， an exception may be the balance suicide. Balance suicide is committed in some Western countries， by people with a serious and irreversible illness， and occasionally by elderly people who feel their lives are complete and that continuing with it would just mean suffering without sufficient reward. Even then， however， it is questionable whether one can call this an act of ″free will,″ since the genetic background and development of the brain will allow or prevent the act of such a balance suicide． Concluding， we are all very different people who did not choose freely to become the person we are|rather， who we are is decided by our genetic background and the way our brain subsequently developed in interaction with the intrauterine and social environment. Natural variation has always been the basic driving force for evolution and will never disappear. We all pursue a life that is adapted to the way our very variable and unique brain has developed. Because of the way our brain has formed and developed we are not free to choose. Governments should permit and protect our freedom to live the life we have been hardwired to live — provided， of course， that the way we live does not harm the others.