We have interviewed 29 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 29 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.
“At 22 years old, I knew that I was dying of alcoholism. I accepted that. The trauma symptoms I experienced were too overwhelming to stop drinking. When I was sober, I would sometimes experience 30 to 40 body memories of being sexually assaulted–again and again in succession. I drank to feel numb.”
“I sat on the summer-hot pavement, and no one stopped or asked me if I was okay. No one called the police. People walked around me as quickly as possible. When I was all cried out, I walked home to my empty house. I bought a set of knives, ostensibly for cooking, but that was not the reason. I had thought about pills, and every day I researched how many of each prescription drug I was on would I need to take to die. Using a sharp knife seemed so much easier.”
Struggled with:
Depression
Suicidal
Traumatic Brain Injury
Helped by:
Medication
Pets
Volunteering
“When the next depressive episode hit in 2018, I was devastated. How could this happen again when I thought I had it all figured out? I experienced some of the darkest moments of my life and a nearly complete loss of hope.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Bipolar Disorder
Depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Medication
Therapy
“I felt prettier, smarter, funnier when alcohol entered my body so I simply continued numbing through the years. The progression of this disease of alcoholism turned into a nasty drug habit and those feelings of insecurity turned into deep darkness when I was “off my meds”. Or in other words, without alcohol or drugs.”
Struggled with:
Addiction
Depression
Suicidal
“After exploring ways to end my life, I resolved to slash my wrist. I retrieved a steak knife from the kitchen and pressed it against my skin. Yet, an unexpected sensation washed over me—a profound sense of peace, love, and joy.”
Struggled with:
Depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Meditation
Mindfulness
Self-improvement
“I never mentioned the accident to anyone until I met my future husband at 22. He was sympathetic and supportive, and helped me understand the enormity of what I had been through.I still have not talked to my siblings about it.”
Struggled with:
Abuse
Depression
Eating disorder
Suicidal
“My relationship with myself was pretty broken and I had no self-belief, I had low self-esteem and I resented my family. It was through yoga that I found the truest feeling of comfort, self-compassion, and courage to move forward, grow as a person, and fall back in love with myself and life again.”
Struggled with:
Depression
Insomnia
Stress
Suicidal
Helped by:
Exercise
Meditation
Mindfulness
Self-Care
“I was hospitalized for my eating disorder and my depression several times throughout my college career struggling with the will to live… I was desperate to be “normal” but my brain really got in the way of that.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Eating disorder
OCD
Suicidal
“This suicidal edge coupled with stress, anxiety, and loneliness made me stop working as a human being. In just two months I had spiraled down into the darkest hole which has ever existed for me. There didn’t exist Marina anymore, merely a depressive and neurotic copy of her, who was unable to laugh and sleep.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Panic attacks
Stress
Suicidal
Helped by:
Self-acceptance
Self-improvement
Therapy
“I used to have a mindset of: “poor me” – “I’m just a victim” and “none of this is my fault”. Eventually, I knew I had to change that narrative to one of control. I had to take accountability for the things that I could change, and be honest about the things I was doing that were making everything worse.”