Although the person who commits suicide only dies once, everyone that knew them will be affected by their death. This means that the act of suicide can cause a ripple effect, dispersing pain and grief among the survivors. If you take your own life, the act may cause other people to become deeply saddened and depressed. Essentially many of the emotions that you experienced while depressed get passed on to remaining survivors.
It can be very difficult to recover from the death of a loved one, but it is usually more difficult if the individual took their own life. The act of suicide leaves people behind with feelings of confusion, shame, and guilt that they couldn’t have done something about it. This essentially drains them of their livelihood and “kills” them many times on the inside. In some cases, the pain that a survivor feels actually leads them to follow through with the same act; further exacerbating the negative “ripples.”