September marks National Suicide Prevention Month, with World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10. This month remind us how important it to unite in our efforts to prevent suicide and support those struggling with mental health issues.
There is no one cause for suicide — a range of factors, from health to personal relationships, can increase a person’s risk of suicide. Conditions like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are often the most common conditions associated with suicide, especially when undiagnosed or untreated. Learning the risk factors and warning signs of suicide can help save your or a loved one’s life.
Understanding Suicide: The Complex Causes Behind the Tragedy
Health: Mental health conditions and illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders, and trauma can increase risk of suicide. Additionally, physical health conditions, such as chronic pain or traumatic injuries, could also put someone at risk to end their life.
Environment: Problems or hardships in your environment, physical or mental, can lead to an increased risk of suicide. Stressful life events, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, or financial difficulties, as well as more prolonged stressors like dealing with harassment and bullying or unemployment, are common risk factors of suicide as many of those at risk feel trapped in their situations.
Community: A lack of access to adequate care concerning your mental and physical health in your community can greatly increase risk of suicide. Additionally, the social stigma associated with seeking help can discourage those in need from taking preventative measures.
Warning Signs of Suicide Risk
If someone is at risk of suicide, they often display behaviors that are a complete change from their usual characteristic. You can watch for warning signs in conversation, behavior, and mood.
- Conversation: Often talks about feeling hopeless or worthless, being a burden to others, feeling trapped, or wanting to end their life.
- Behavior: Increased use of alcohol or drugs, loss of interests in daily activities and isolation from family and friends, sleeping too much or too little, visiting or calling loved ones to say goodbye, and giving away possessions.
- Mood shifts: Displays signs of depressions, anxiety, anger, shame, or irritability, followed by a sudden display of improvement or relief.
Practical Strategies for Suicide Prevention
There are a number of things you and your loved ones can do to prevent people from suicide on individual, relationship, and societal levels.
If you suspect someone is in emotional pain or at risk, ask about their feelings and be there for them in any way that shows support. Keep them safe by limiting access to lethal means and get them connected to support groups and prevention organizations. Also important: Following up and keeping in touch beyond setting them on a path to hope.
If you personally feel the heaviness of suicide, it’s crucial you implement effective coping skills into your daily life to process and overcome personal traumas. Creating a mental toolbox curated to your lifestyle can be one of the best forms of suicide prevention as you develop problem-solving skills on an individual level. Craft a list of the reasons most important to you for living, whether that be friends, family, pets, etc. And work hard to strengthen your relationships and increase your connections to others.
Enhancing Access to Care and Reducing Stigma
Community is also essential when it comes to preventing suicide. Ensuring easy access to mental health care and resources, while also limiting access to lethal means, is key. In addition, reducing the stigma around getting help can continue to ease access to mental health resources.
Need immediate help, or know someone who does? Contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline if you are experiencing mental health-related distress or are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support: Call or text 988, or chat live at 988lifeline.org.
Your journey toward hope and healing beyond hopelessness begins at Beachside Rehab in West Palm Beach, Florida. We offer a variety of holistic inpatient and outpatient mental health programs. Please call 866-349-1770 to speak with one of our trained admissions counselors.
Photo by ara ghafoory on Unsplash