Do You Feel Suicidal Right Now?
These four interventions could save your life or the life of someone you love when they or you feel suicidal.
I know life can be hard and problems can pile so high that we cannot see a way out. I want to give you some practical ideas to try when you are at the depth of despair and feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. When you feel suicidal please try these four steps.
When you have lost hope and believe suicide is the only way out, please try these four ideas:
1. Reach Out for Help
I understand that finding the strength to do this can be really hard, especially if you also feel alone, but people are available to help.
- Call or chat with the Suicide Prevention LifeLine at 1-800-273-8255 or www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
- Call your Contract For Life Partner
What is a Contract for Life Partner?
Every person who is even remotely thinking of suicide, should have a Contract For Life partner. A Contract For Life partner is someone you trust and who understands you. This is someone you make a commitment to that says,
I promise th
at if I have serious thoughts of killing myself, I will talk with you or with someone else I trust before I do anything destructive.
John is a survivor and here is his advice, “Don’t keep quiet if you are going to hurt yourself or others…please speak up. If you are feeling suicidal then talk to someone, don’t keep quiet about it. There is someone out there who will listen to you.” You can read his full story here.
Keely said she has an older friend she calls when she feels suicidal thoughts coming on: I told her everything. And I told her that I need her help. Sometimes I just call to hear her voice to know I’m not alone. Other times, I ask if we can get together. She doesn’t grill me, she’s just there for me.
A Contract For Life partner is priceless because you can meet with them face to face or talk on the phone anytime. If you do not have one, please make it a priority to go looking for one today.
2. Refer to your Safety Plan
Take time right now to print out the Prevention Checklist and fill in the blanks of the Suicide Safety Plan. Then when you are feeling hopeless pull out your plan and follow what you have written down.
3. Remove whatever can harm you at that very moment.
If there are guns, knives, and pills in your house, then RUN from your house. Get away from anything you can use to hurt yourself. This will buy you time to settle down and begin to think rationally. Some people are most suicidal when they are drunk. Have someone you know and trust clear all those things out of your house.
Wendalin said she was suicidal for over three years, but was helped by knowing she wasn’t alone: I had a friend who was there for me no matter what. I tried to push this friend away so many times, she took away the knifes and scissors I’d cut with, my Dad’s diving knife, my grandpa’s gun, and the hose and rope so I couldn’t hang myself. Even though I was so mad at her for it, I knew she cared and that she really did love me.
At your darkest hour reach out for help. #suicideprevention Click To TweetGlory wrote: I tried a couple times but it never really worked. Then one night I realized something. If you can’t change it, get over it. There are much better things to do in life then sit around hating life. God gave us life so we should use it. Killing yourself is only running away from your problems. It won’t help one bit.
4. Turn to other Activities
The key here is to get your mind off of doing the unthinkable. If you are near suicide, you want to change the subject, 
or divert your mind from what you were planning to do. Walk, jog, bike, swim, take a nap, take a hot shower, watch a movie, listen to music, read a book, do household chores, clean, go shopping, go to the park, volunteer at an animal shelter for a few hours – An excuse to play with puppies? Yes please! Anything that has the potential to help you lift your spirit.
If you are near suicide, you want to change the subject, or divert your mind from what you were planning to do.
Kelsey discovered this worked for her: I actually went and got a knife to kill myself and I just stopped and I was thinking this really isn’t solving my problems is it? So I just decided to try to get into something like hip-hop classes, get my mind off my life, and just try to live life to the fullest.
There are many more articles on TheHopeLine regarding suicide and we want you to know you are not alone. You matter, you are good enough and you are loved.
You matter, you are good enough and you are loved. #suicideprevention Click To TweetIf you or a friend need support right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, for free confidential, 24/7 help. Head here for a list of crisis centers around the world. For additional help, please visit the suicide prevention resource page.
For more on what to do if you are having suicidal thoughts or if you know someone who is considering suicide, check out TheHopeLine’s eBook: Understanding Suicide.
First I am not suicidal. There were however times it was considered. The last ten years of my employment I was was in great pain but I pushed through the pain, depression, anxiety. My Boss sold the business and I was suddenly jobless. I was 61 too young to retire and unable to work due to pain. My coworkers had covered for me quite a bit. There were no jobs anyway we were in the middle of a recession. My Wife was infuriated. I heard her tell a friend on the phone. I’m not supporting any damn man. Even though that damn man put his heart, soul, and body into helping support her for 30+ years. She worked for the school system. Very low pay but a lot of time off. I had the opposite good pay but long hours on concrete floors, worn out knees, and virtually no time off. Any way she quit at the end of the school term. She had had a couple of bouts with cancer which luckily were caught very early and she was fine. I was told If I had a real disease like cancer she could understand. We are still married for financial reasons. But there is no relationship. There was a time I thought of suicide but started writing what I considered my accomplishments in life. I had done considerable. I was initially a mechianical engineer and developed the ground cooling system for the Apollo Rockets that carried us to the moon and back, a railroad tank car less likely to leak in a derailment and many other things. But manufacturing moved over seas and I went into the auto service business. Becoming Service Manager. That’s were my injuries occurred. I had doubled the size of two houses on weekends and after work with my own two hands so we had room for our two children. I had done quite a lot but the pain was intense and I turned first to alcohol to self medicate. I stopped that and turned to a pain clinic after the job loss. I was given MSER and hydrocodone for breakthrough pain. Then the first opioid crises hit and the DEA or CDC I’m not sure who but they put a lot of pressure on the Clinic. Through a misunderstanding I was taken off the MSER and went through cold turkey withdrawals. I returned to the pain Clinic and was put on Fentaynal Patches but quickly built a tolerance so I explained to the Dr. He weaned me off that and things had cooled down so I returned to just MSER. I had lost 100 lbs on the Fentanyl and wanted to go as low as possible but I went too low as I put 45 lbs back on. Now we are in another opioid crisis and I need to increase my daily dose by one pill they cannot do that as I also take Xanax for anexiety. Which I had all along but the Clinic fears the DEA which I understand. So I am not suicidal as I realized I didn’t waste my life but am labeled as a drug addict by my wife who attends NarcAno classes to help her cope with “my” problem. I’ve never harmed her or anyone and have no desire to do so but she does not understand there are very real medical problems besides cancer. Knee replacement was of course recommended but I fear that as it is so invasive and I have a propensity to infection in my lower legs for some reason. Probably poor circulation in that area as I am a big man 245 lbs. so rather than risk loss of my lower limbs or possibly septic infection I chose to take a few pills a day and cope with tolerable pain levels. Sorry for the length of this but I suspect others can relate. My ultimate point is suicide is not the answer you are worth something to us if no one else. Regardless of you circumstances.
Thank you for your post. I’m struggling and exhausted. I’m making the decision daily. Don’t want to cause my family the pain that I know all too well, but often think I’m causing them grief watching me deconstruct from the man I used to be.
All you mentioned in this site is bullshit for me caz I don’t live in us and I don’t have anyone listen to me ,the country I live in is a garbage .the creatures that called themselves human being is only will make fun of me whem I will tell them Iam depressed , I told my sister I’ve tried to kill myself three times and only she laughe on my face and called me stupid .Iam like a pet locked at the house
Iam in middle twenties and I sat in home 24 hours .Iam not even allowed to go outside alone and I can’t have a job or breathe frish air and can’t even suicide peacefuly cuz I didn’t have a personal room
Literally I have no one and nothing Iam a piece of pathetic crap
You are valuable and worthy! It’s good you are reaching out to talk about this. We have some resources we can give you to help you with these thoughts. Some of them you can still use when you are out of the US. This list has some ways you can get help. Please look at it.
Here is a list of additional suicide prevention resources https://www.thehopeline.com/suicide-prevention-resources. Also, you would benefit from having an email mentor too. It would be someone you can email back and forth with for as long as you like about what is going on in your life. To sign up go here:
https://www.thehopeline.com/emailmentors
I think about this everyday, constantly. I have no friends, no talent, I’m ugly, fat, not popular, unliked, worthless, etc. I’ve always felt like this. And I always will. I jus wanna go..
i am afraid my depression is worsen everyday. my thoughts of suicide are increasing. I want help but can not afford to seek it out and i am scared that i wont be able to pull myself out of this darkness i am in. This self hate i have. I just want the hurt to stop and feel like i never will.
You are valuable and worthy! It’s good you are reaching out to talk about this. We have some resources we can give you to help you with these thoughts. We have a partner that you can help you through this. We are emailing you with some information to help you so please check your email. If you need someone to talk to right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1.800.273.8255 or chat online with them at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/. You can reach the Crisis Text Line 24/7 by texting “START” to 741-741 too.
Here is a list of additional suicide prevention resources https://www.thehopeline.com/suicide-prevention-resources.
does not work im a kid and i want to die im sad and no one likes me and my mum drinks
You are valuable and worthy! It’s good you are reaching out to talk about this. We have some resources we can give you to help you with these thoughts. We have a partner that you can help you through this. We are emailing you with some information to help you so please check your email. If you need someone to talk to right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1.800.273.8255 or chat online with them at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/. You can reach the Crisis Text Line 24/7 by texting “START” to 741-741 too.
Here is a list of additional suicide prevention resources https://www.thehopeline.com/suicide-prevention-resources.
I really need help. Everyday I tell myself every things gonna be alright, I remind myself everytime shamelessly. Yesterday I tried to talk with my aunt about my condition but she took this as a joke. Tell me why would I joke when I’m seriously in the danger to kill myself or hurt myself. I’m not strong enough to survive. It feels pathetic to be lonely. Please help me.
You are valuable and worthy and how you’re feeling is not a joke. It is serious. It’s good you are reaching out to talk about this. We have some resources we can give you to help you with these thoughts. We have a partner that you can help you through this. We are emailing you with some information to help you so please check your email. If you need someone to talk to right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1.800.273.8255 or chat online with them at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/. You can reach the Crisis Text Line 24/7 by texting “START” to 741-741 too.
Here is a list of additional suicide prevention resources https://www.thehopeline.com/suicide-prevention-resources.