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Preventing suicide

• What can be done to prevent suicide?
• What are the warning signs of suicide?
• What are the risk factors for suicide?
• More information on preventing suicide

People who consider suicide often feel like there is no hope. They may often feel sad, lonely, trapped, or alone.

What can be done to prevent suicide?

Getting help for mental illnesses can help prevent suicide. Because depression and substance abuse are linked to suicide, getting treatment for these disorders can help prevent suicide.

Stigma associated with mental illnesses can prevent people from getting help. Your willingness to talk about depression and suicide with a friend, family member, or co-worker can be the first step in getting help and preventing suicide. If you know someone whom you think may be suicidal, show that you care by:

• Listening to them with sincere concern for their feelings. Do not offer advice, but let them know they are not alone.
• Sharing your feelings with them. If you feel that they may make a reckless decision, tell that that you are concerned. They need to know that they are important to you and that you care.
• Asking in a caring manner if they have had suicidal thoughts or if they have made a suicide plan. If you feel you cannot ask the question, find someone who can.
• Calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800-273-TALK (8255).

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What are the warning signs of suicide?

Warning signs of suicide include:

• Ideation (thinking, talking, or wishing about suicide)
• Substance use or abuse (increased use or change in substance)
• Feeling purposeless (no sense of purpose or belonging)
• Anger
• Feeling trapped (feeling like there is no way out)
• Hopelessness (there is nothing to live for, no hope or optimism)
• Withdrawal (from family, friends, work, school, activities, hobbies)
• Anxiety (restlessness, irritability, agitation)
• Recklessness (high risk-taking behavior)
• Mood disturbance (dramatic changes in mood)

More warning signs of suicide include:

• Talking about suicide
• Looking for ways to die (Internet searches for how to commit suicide, looking for guns, pills, etc.)
• Talking about hopelessness, helplessness, or worthlessness
• Thinking about death a lot
• Suddenly acting happier, calmer
• Loss of interest in things one cares about
• Visiting or calling people one cares about, especially after a long absence
• Making arrangements or setting one's affairs in order
• Giving things away, such as prized possessions

Remember: a suicidal person needs to see a doctor or mental health professional right away.

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What are the risk factors for suicide?

"Risk factors" may make something more likely to happen. Risk factors for suicide include:

• Depression and other mental disorders, or a substance-abuse disorder. More than 90 percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors.
• A prior suicide attempt
• A family history of mental disorders or substance abuse
• A family history of suicide
• Family violence, including physical or sexual abuse
• Firearms in the home
• Exposure to suicide by other people, including family members, friends, coworkers, or media figures

Research shows that the risk for suicide is related to changes in brain chemicals called neurotransmitters (ner-roh-TRANZ-mitt-ers), including serotonin (seh-roh-TONE-in). Low levels of serotonin have been found in people with depression, impulsive disorders, and a history of suicide attempts, and in the brains of suicide victims.

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More information on preventing suicide

Explore other publications and websites

• If You Are Considering Suicide (Copyright © American Association of Suicidology) — If you are feeling suicidal, it’s important to seek medical help right away. You are not alone. Many people have suicidal thoughts. But it’s important that depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and other problems that inspire suicidal thinking are treatable. A suicidal crisis is usually temporary. Your problems do have solutions — you just can’t see them right now. This publication will tell you more about the help and hope available for people considering suicide.
  http://www.suicidology.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=232&name=DLFE-32.pdf
• National Strategy for Suicide Prevention — This site provides information, statistics, news articles, and other resources on suicide and suicide prevention.
  http://www.samhsa.gov/prevention/suicide.aspx
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Brochure: When It Seems Like There Is No Hope, There Is Help — This brochure explains the warning signs of suicide and how to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for help.
  http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/App_Files/Media/PDF/NSPL_Consumer_Brochure_1-30-06.pdf
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: After an Attempt - A Guide for Taking Care of Your Family Member After Treatment in the Emergency Department — This brochure is a guide for family members of a person who has attempted to commit suicide. It describes how they can help inform the emergency department that is treating the patient and how to ensure successful follow-up treatment afterwards.
  http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA08-4357/SMA08-4357.pdf
• Older Adults: Depression and Suicide Facts — This website discusses depression and suicide facts among older adults and ways in which depression can be treated.
  http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/older-adults-depression-and-suicide-facts.shtml
• Suicide in the U.S.: Statistics and Prevention — This fact sheet is a brief overview of suicide statistics in the United States. It discusses the difference in suicide data between men and women, racial and ethnic groups, and age groups.
  http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml
• Suicide Prevention: Common Misconceptions (Copyright © Suicide Awareness Voices of Education) — This web page dispels common myths about suicide and offers advice on how to help someone who may be at risk.
  http://www.save.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=705EC833-E77D-2519-FA362EDFA62268C7

Connect with other organizations

• American Association of Suicidology
  http://www.suicidology.org/
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
  http://www.afsp.org/
• CopeCareDeal
  http://www.copecaredeal.org/
• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
  http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home
• National Hopeline Network
  http://www.hopeline.com/
• Screening for Mental Health, Inc.
  http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/
• Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
  http://www.save.org/

Content last updated March 29, 2010.

Resources last updated March 29, 2010.

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