We have interviewed 32 people who have struggled with suicidal ideation. These stories are full of inspiring tips on how to deal with these feelings. Please allow these stories to be a beacon of hope for you, and know that there is always a way out.
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I’ve interviewed 32 people struggling with suicidal ideation, and here are the top 5 most mentioned tips that helped these people overcome it:
In our many years of publishing helpful mental health content, we always received questions from our readers about specific situations. While we have a lot of helpful tips to share on how to be happier, we simply can’t offer advice for every situation.
That’s why I’ve set out to interview folks with every type of mental health struggle. My job as an interviewer is to categorize these interviews and present them in a way that is most helpful to our readers.
“Do you know how hard it is to be friends with a person who wants to kill themselves then 5 minutes later they’re ok? It’s draining. Well, I am that person. The struggle impacts me daily, however, last Saturday I had an epiphany that I’ve been working on and the days seem to be getting better.”
“Shortly after the trauma, I started to isolate myself from the world. Experiencing anger with just about everything and everyone. Those closest to me sensed something was wrong. I knew something was wrong. But I was not able to identify what it was. Nor could anyone else. I continued to spiral out of control.”
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
“I tried to keep a smile on my face and pretend all was great, but deep inside, I had this sadness, bitterness, and anger. I was in denial that something was wrong, and in my mind, if I admitted it, it would confirm what I knew all along. That I was a failure at being a mom. I even compared myself with other moms. Imagine that! I tried to hide it from the world.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Postpartum depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-improvement
“I found myself pounding on the wall of my shower, crying my heart out, convinced that my wife and kids would be better off if I killed myself. I had put them through enough stress over the years with my risky business ventures. My life insurance policy would take care of them better than I could.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Grief
Suicidal
Helped by:
Self-Care
“I skidded on my face and tore ligaments in my knee and shoulder. Other injuries include several broken bones in my pelvis and my skull had a fracture from my hairline to the top of my head. It took several stitches to close up a head wound. I sustained a contrecoup head injury.”
“This was a different breed of anxiety. It took me down. I had never experienced suicidal ideation before. I am a fighter and have always been so proud of my resilience, but this was a whole different ball game. Resilience is no match for suicidal ideation.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Postpartum depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Treatment
“Because I wasn’t using solid evidence to understand my situation; I was just using my own thoughts and feelings, which were terribly limited. I mean, one person cannot possibly know all there is to know in order to make sense of themselves or the world. Life is simply too complex for that.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-Care
“I felt broken. I had suicidal ideation because I sometimes could not see a way out of it. A wise person told me my children would be much worse off if their mother killed herself. That stopped me in my tracks.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Divorce
Miscarriage
Suicidal
Helped by:
Medication
Self-Care
Therapy
“For the longest time, I tried to keep it to myself. I felt this need to stay strong, to keep up the front, especially because people around me relied on me. I worried that showing what I was going through would let others down or make them see me differently. So, I put on a brave face, thinking I could power through on my own.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Self-acceptance
Volunteering
“After a while, I decided to try psychotherapy. But eventually the therapist used sexual abuse as his “therapeutic intervention,” and my suicidal desires came back in full force. I lived on the sharp edges of suicide for several years. The only thing that stopped me from taking my own life was my love for my children.”
Helped by:
Self-awareness
Therapy
