The Nature of Suicide
Natalie Staats Reiss, Ph.D., and Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.image by Fernando Martinez (lic)This center is intended to educate readers about the nature of suicide. If you are seriously considering committing suicide right now, you don't need education about the nature of suicide. If you know that you will harm yourself unless something happens very shortly to stop you from doing so - PLEASE take the following step right now:
- If you are in the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you are in another country, you can find a local suicide helpline here.
- Get to the nearest emergency room and tell the admitting staff there that you are "acutely suicidal."
- If you cannot get yourself safely to the emergency room, call the emergency operator (911 in the United States) and ask for assistance. Again, tell the operator that you are acutely suicidal and require immediate help.
Your use of the term "acute" tells the people you're speaking with that you are in immediate danger of committing suicide right now, and that they need to act quickly to help keep you safe.
If you are still reading (and not on the phone with an emergency operator, or already on the way to the hospital), we'll take it as a sign that you are not acutely suicidal right now. Though you may not be in crisis this moment, you may be experiencing a great deal of emotional pain nevertheless, and seeking information about how to best deal with that pain. If that is the case, feel free to skip over this introductory article and go right to our article discussing practical tips and suggestions for coping with and managing suicidal feelings and thoughts. If you are a friend or family member seeking practical information about how to deal with another person who is suicidal, we have another article written specifically for you. We hope you will find this practical information to be useful.
If you are still reading, we'll take that as a sign that you have a few minutes to spend learning about suicide (rather than just reacting to it). It's useful to learn about the nature of suicide, because knowing this information can help you to keep your suicidal feelings (or the suicidal feelings of a loved one) in perspective, and can thus make you more able to manage those feelings, rather than be managed by them.
In this article, we lay the foundation for our discussion of suicide by first defining the types of behaviors and thoughts that fit the definition of "suicidal". We then share important information concerning the number of people who commit suicide each year, and their typical characteristics and issues. We also discuss why someone might commit suicide. We end our discussion with some societal recommendations for the prevention of suicide.
Keep in mind that you always have the option of picking up the phone and calling for help should you become overwhelmed by suicidal feelings while reading this article. Call the emergency operator or take yourself to the emergency room at the local hospital. Taking these actions will help keep you safe. Maybe not entirely comfortable; maybe embarrassed; maybe even ashamed; but safe, nevertheless.
Resources
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Articles
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The Nature of Suicide
- The Nature of Suicide
- Defining Suicide
- Suicide: A Reactive Action
- Suicide Statistics
- Other Factors Contributing to Suicide Risk
- Suicide Triggers
- Suicide Triggers Continued
- Tying it All Together: Why Does Someone Become Suicidal?
- Becoming Suicidal: Biological Contributions
- Becoming Suicidal: Sociocultural Contributions
- Suicide Prevention and Societal Measures
- Websites
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Coping with Suicidality
- Coping with Suicidality
- How did you get to this suicidal place?
- Why does suicide seem like a solution to your problem(s)?
- How do you know your level of suicide risk?
- Suicide Warning Signs
- Suicide: What Should I Do if I'm Suicidal?
- Suicide: What will happen to you when you ask for help?
- Outpatient Suicide Treatment-Finding A Psychotherapist
- The Initial Suicide Treatment Interview
- Jeremy's Story
- Follow-up Suicide Therapy Visits
- Suicide: Other Things You Can Do to Help Keep Yourself Safe
- Suicide and Self Harm Resources
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Helping A Friend or Family Member who is Suicidal
- Helping a Friend or Family Member Who is Suicidal
- Understanding Suicidal Crises
- Why Do People Become Suicidal and What Can I do to Help?
- How Can I Judge the Level of Suicide Risk?
- What Are Other Suicide Warning Signs?
- What Happens When a Suicidal Person Asks for Help?
- How Do We Find a Therapist for Suicide Outpatient Treatment?
- What Else Can I Do to Help a Suicidal Family Member or Friend?
- How Do I Handle My Own Reactions Following a Suicide or a Suicide Attempt?
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The Nature of Suicide
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News
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Questions and Answers
- How Can I Convince My Suicidal MD Husband To Be Evaluated?
- No Clue What To Do. Help?
- In A Bad Situation
- When Psychotherapy Does Not Help
- Depression Treatment
- Therapist rights to contact Employer
- Does a therapist have to report me as suicidal if I tell her I self injure?
- OCD
- Will I Ever?
- Self-Injury / Self-Harm: How do I stop cutting myself?
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32 more
- Psych major wants to get her life back after being raped and attempting suicide
- A Friend in Need
- Mild Personality Disorder
- hard decision
- My husband won't take his medicine
- What is the point of life?
- Regular thoughts of killing myself
- I'm a cutter and can't remember anything
- Does thinking of suicide lead to suicide?
- I Sometimes Cut
- When To Ask For Suicide Help
- Inability To Express Myself
- Suicidal
- Suicidal Friend
- Suicidal Teen
- Self-Harming Attention Seeker
- Her Only Friend
- Is This Depression?
- Hate Ex-Boyfriend
- Potentially Suicidal Boyfriend
- Talking Dice
- Self-injurer
- Suicide Threat Relationships (a long one)
- Therapy for Cutters
- Deep Feelings of Suicide
- Self-Injuring Sister
- Self-Injury
- The Aftermath of Suicide
- Poly-addiction?
- Cutting
- Severely Depressed
- Threatened by Suicide if I Leave
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Book & Media Reviews
- A Sadly Troubled History
- Alive
- Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind
- Bloodletting
- Boy Interrupted
- Comprehending Suicide
- Crosses
- Duplicity
- Eight Stories Up
- Fatal Attachments
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26 more
- Heavier than Heaven
- Her Husband
- History of Suicide
- How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me
- Human Dignity and Assisted Death
- Leaving You
- Life Interrupted
- Like the Red Panda
- Making Sense of Suicide
- Myths about Suicide
- Night Falls Fast
- No Right Turn
- One in Thirteen
- Relational Suicide Assessment
- Silent Grief
- Suicidal
- Suicidal Behavior in Children and Adolescents
- Suicide
- Sylvia
- Sylvia Plath
- Sylvia Plath Reads
- The Art of Misdiagnosis
- The Clinical Science of Suicide Prevention
- The Final Leap
- Thirteen Reasons Why
- Unholy Ghost
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Links
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Videos
- Developing the Family Intervention for Suicide Prevention (FISP)
- Addressing the Rise of Teen Suicide
- Feeling down? Let's talk - Prevention of suicide among adolescents
- NPW 2017: Suicide and Substance Use in Young People
- Addressing Suicide
- Suicide Warning Signs
- How to Ask if Someone is Suicidal
- Suicide Tops Injury Deaths
- Assessment and Intervention with Suicidal Clients: Volume 2
- Assessment and Intervention with Suicidal Clients: Volume 1
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14 more
- Assessment and Intervention with Suicidal Clients: Volume 3
- Preventing suicide: a global imperative
- Youth Suicide Risk
- Preventing Death by Suicide-Strategies to Help Children, Youth and Families
- The bridge between suicide and life
- Beyond the Data -- Preventing Suicide: A Comprehensive Public Health Approach
- Preventing Suicide: A Comprehensive Public Health Approach
- For Those Considering Suicide
- How to Help Someone Who is Suicidal
- Teen Suicide Prevention
- Reach Out - Preventing Teen Suicide
- Suicide Prevention with Lynn Keane
- Addressing Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Substance Abuse Treatment
- Suicide Signs
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