Suicidal people often genuinely believe they will survive their own death

Evidence

And then there is that ancient wish for literal immortality. People who commit suicide often genuinely believe that they will outlive their own death. Even children who kill themselves seem to feel this way. Clinical studies find suicidal children are more likely than nonsuicidal children to view death as a continuation of life in which long-standing wishes may be fulfilled. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 737

Categorization

• QUESTION: What mechanism allows children to believe in death as continuation while adults access the same belief? Worth tracing the psychological literature.

Related

• Some suicides stem from a horror of mortality itself rather than physical pain (similarity 0.81)
• Children fear death more than parents realize they do (similarity 0.78)