If someone actually intended to commit suicide why would they tell people about it?

Answer 1

I don't even know if this question is still "fresh," but suicide is such a personal decision that it surprises me that someone would think the mind of the potentially suicidal is open to others. Two people may both feel suicidal (or have felt suicidal) without sharing the same motivations. And yet there may be recurring themes among the suicidal. Regardless the epidemiology of suicide, I hope we won't assume that one set of characteristics fits all suicidals.

I agree with the posters who've intimated that suicide may be a response to overwhelming (and chronic) emotional pain. I also agree that sharing about suicide may be a way to see for oneself whether one's loved ones care--or rather how they care. I don't at all mean to imply the suicidal are manipulative. When I shared my suicidal ideation with those I love, they either told me they had to get on with their own lives, that I was bringing them down; or that it was my decision--that only I could decide to stay alive. And my partner at the time was a suicide hotline worker. We're social animals. Whom else are we going to turn to in our despair--especially those of us who aren't religious, other than one another. It's, at least to me, especially pitiful when those hurting so much they're deciding to end their lives reach out to their support network and find that the network is either too busy to care or sincerely disinterested.

I think I'm new here. I suffer amnesia so I don't even remember who am sometimes. So I apologize if I don't observe protocols that everyone else does. Another reason I don't observe protocols is that I have the autism spectrum disorder, Asperger's Syndrome. Hence my reason for wanting to add my half-pennyworth to this answer as people with autism spectrum disorder are two and a half times as likely as normal people to die prematurely and those without developmental delays, such as like me, with Asperger's Syndrome, run a high risk that our premature deaths will be self induced - 28 times as high in childhood and 9 times as high in adulthood - I'm no exception - I had a horrendous history of suicide attempts in my childhood and a reduced history of them in my adulthood, but still a history. These trends are relatively well known in the autie / aspie community, so we rely a lot on self help by using the internet. Those of us who accept what we are and what this means have little difficulty in our internet community forums discussing suicide and if we are feeling suicidal. I used to belong to a society in the UK that was a haven for auties and aspies and accepted that premature death by suicide was our worst risk, and therefore taught suicide avoidance and prevention. My history of suicide attempts was so bizarre that I was asked to become an instructor of suicide avoidance and prevention at age 49, its chief instructor at 50 and its only instructor at 52. Anyone wishing help to avoid and prevent themselves from killing themselves is welcome to contact me by email if you can find my email address from my profile page in Answers.