If You Are Thinking About Suicide
Remember that however alone you feel,there are people who want to talk with you, who want to help. Call a crisis line to talk with someone like that right now.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
1-800-273-TALK
National Native American Youth Crisis Hotline:
Toll Free: 1-877-209-1266
Trevor Helpline
National 24-hour, toll-free suicide prevention hot line aimed at gay and questioning youth:
1-866-4-U-TREVOR (488-7386)
We know you are hurting right now, but you don’t have to go through this alone. We have some suggestions for things you can do right away to help yourself get through the immediate crisis, and have a chance to find other solutions.
Give yourself today
The option of killing yourself isn’t going to go away. It is a choice you can make tomorrow or next week or next month, if you decide that’s still what you want. When you are feeling so bad that you want to kill yourself, the thought of just surviving the days ahead can seem exhausting, overwhelming, and unbearable.
So try to focus on just getting through today, not the rest of your life. Your coping ability is greatly weakened right now. You may not be able to imagine getting through this—but your thoughts can play tricks on you when you are in a crisis.
So don’t try to handle thoughts of the future right now; just make a decision to get through today. Today may be painful, but you can decide to survive it and give some other options a chance, at least for a day.
Talk to someone:
a crisis line
a private therapist, counselor, or psychologist
a community mental health team
a school teacher
a doctor or psychiatrist
a religious or spiritual leader
Develop a list of things that you can do when you are in a crisis
When you find yourself getting overwhelmed, go down your list and do each thing until you are able to go on. For instance, your list might include:
Do some breathing exercises. Count to ten while breathing.
Take a hot bath
Call a crisis hotline (keep the number with you and by your phone)
Eat your favorite food
Watch a movie or TV
Look through a magazine
Write down your thoughts, how you could be helped, what you would like to change.
Call friends or support (keep their numbers with you and by the phone)
Go for a walk or do some exercise.
Your list should contain as many items that you can think of that help to calm you down, and may not be like the list above at all. The important thing is that it is useful to you.
Avoid using drugs and alcohol when you are feeling desperate or in a crisis
Although it is tempting to try to use them to try to numb painful feelings, drugs and alcohol can make your emotions more volatile and affect your judgment. Using drugs or alcohol while you are in crisis will greatly increase your risk of hurting or killing yourself impulsively, even though you may not have fully decided to do that.
Remember that however alone you feel, there are people who want to talk with you, who want to help.
Call a crisis line to talk with someone like that right now.
If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK
(From: www.suicidology.org/)
