How do you keep yourself from commtting sucide?

Answer 1

If you re considering suicide, things must be pretty terrible for you now. It seems to me that, if you're asking this question, you must want things to change somehow. So, lacking specific information about your situation, I'll speak generally, and I'll speak about change.

It's my experience that, when one feels like killing themselves, they feel as if their options are narrowed or limited. And usually there's a sense of paralysis. If you can do anything to overcome that stasis, maybe that can help.

So what can you do? Start with small things if you can. Before killing yourself, have you tried everything you want to taste, touch, feel in this world? Have you seen that one last concert or movie, had that last fine meal? Told your boss he's an idiot? Well -- if you're considering killing yourself, this may be the time to take that opportunity.

How about things you can change? The top two changes people in crisis seem to make are diet and clothing. Minor changes in these may make for some surprising changes.

Also -- you have to ask yourself what you're accomplishing by killing yourself. Lots and lots of suicides are anger-driven. They're punishment for someone else. If that's why you're considering killing yourself, you might want to give this some more consideration. Suicide as a method of inflicting pain or punishment doesn't work well -- and those that you leave behind, once they get that this was all about anger, will tend to recover quickly. Bottom line: If anger is your reasoning, think about if it'll actually work.

Despair is another motivator, but despair seems yield to the changes I mentioned earlier. Pretty much any positive change in your life that you can enact will go a long ways with despair. Even little things can seem to really help. Treat yourself kindly.

And finally, I think that stopping yourself from killing yourself is a one-day-at-a-time sort of thing. Everyone has considered suicide. The answer is not to say, "I'll never do that!" -- it's to simply buy yourself an hour, a day.... And then re-evaluate.

If you can talk to people about this, it can really help. Worried that the responses will ineffective, embarrassing, judgemental? Well -- some will, and you can opt to completely ignore that sort of bad advice just now. When things are so bad you're considering killing yourself -- in that kind of crisis -- you have at least the sublime right and pleasure to ignore the unhelpful. And if you do that, and perhaps find one who you can talk to -- just the act of talking can help.

A lot of Depression can be stemmed or eased if you can make contact with others. No-one in your group of friends can do this? Cool -- reach outside that circle. Anything to make contact.

In summary, I think that holding off suicide happens a little at a time -- there is no overall, slam-dunk fix. But if you can make things a little different, a little easier, relieve some anger, talk to someone ... you can save that one day and go onto the next. And hopefully, it'll get easier.