I don't think of it that way. If your emotional state is negative then if you are alive there a several million different things in the world that could happen to make you happier.
Dead might mean zero to you, to me it means no possibility of improvement, which is a negative anyway,
It's true one's emotional state can improve with time, but it becomes a game of probability. If you have spent 10 years depressed, with no remedy helping, then it is fair to think it's improbable that you will improve.
Also, some may choose death over even one more moment of torture. Would you rather die immediately, or spend several years being mutilated by sadists?
I think i would cling onto my life to the very end, in case superman showed up!
I think I would too tbh. But to me, that's actually a scary though. I've read of so much suffering (mostly due to my interests - holocaust, ww2, soviet union), and often think about what I would do in certain situations. I think my "will to live" would always overrule everything, no matter how much pain I was in. And that scares me. Not being able to go through with it and end things. Having some kind of animal desire to live, against all odds. It's almost irrational, although it's biologically rational. if that makes sense
I think almost all people are like that ^
But then there are a minority who lack that. And those are the people who, when things get to that low point, will be most likely to resort to suicide. I remember a study they did on the brains of suicide victims a few years ago. They respond differently to pain (emotional pain). I can't remember the technicalities of it, but I',m sure there's plenty of info online
I don't know why some people lack that all-conquering "will to live", but they do. Right now, I'm relieved I dont, as I might have turned to suicide at one point myself, and it would have destroyed the people closest to me. But sometimes I do feel... scared... by it. The thought that I'm ruled by this fucking illogical need to live, even in the shittiest circumstances imaginable. All because I'm programmed to pass on my genes, which I'm destined never to pass on