Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives that satisfy transactions, activities or functional requirements for a business. It is a technique that is used to determine options that provide the best approach for the adoption and practice in terms of benefits in labour, time and cost savings etc. The CBA is also defined as a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, decision or government policy (hereafter, “project”).
Broadly, CBA has two purposes:
To determine if it is a sound investment/decision (justification/feasibility),
To provide a basis for comparing projects. It involves comparing the total expected cost of each option against the total expected benefits, to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs, and by how much.
How is this relevant?
The cost of continued existence often seems to exceed the benefits of continued existence.
Life can be unbearable without the ability to form meaningful relationships, especially when this trait isn’t just limited to one category of relationship but instead seems to apply to any forms of interpersonal relationships. Even when I’m comfortable with being alone (most of the time) there are undeniable benefits to being social.
Being unable to plan, word towards and achieve reasonable life goals makes every day wasted time. People have spent more than half my life telling me I need to figure out what to do once I’m “grown-up”. Well, guess what, I’m grown-up and I still don’t have a clue.
Various psychological diagnoses help explain the issues, but they don’t fix the problem. Because there’s never any progress or improvement I sit stagnant, unsure of how to fix things and most of the time unsure of if it’s even worth the effort to fix. I’m not even sure if I could define ‘fixed’ anyways.
3 comments
I would respect psychologists far more if they would do honest cost-benefit analysis of living vs. dying with me instead of reciting whatever tired platitude has happened to cross their mind at the time. Honestly tallying up the credits and demerits of life and death would be better than reciting “suicide is never the answer” or “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
But no, if I even mention the possibility of suicide they throw me into PRISON (doublespeak = “psychiatric ward”). I’m just supposed to nod and smile at the platitudes in between my medication (which I’m pretty sure is giving me seizures).
Most people are content with living and even if they aren’t still strive for something better. There are lost of reasons why the average human generally opposes suicide in principle but I find that with the exception of the inherent feelings they have toward life it’s actually culture that has the most impact. Culture changes, just look at what it was like 200 years ago. There might come a time when suicide is accepted as being a rational choice and possibly celebrated. Some might say if that ever happened society would crumble.
“Life can be unbearable without the ability to form meaningful relationships”
So true.
“People have spent more than half my life telling me I need to figure out what to do once I’m “grown-up”. Well, guess what, I’m grown-up and I still don’t have a clue.”
This is exactly my life. I have learned I am a pretty simple person and could survive on a very simple life. However, the society in which I live insists on shoving a complicated, bureaucracy infested idea of life down my throat and basically tells me to comply or die.