First Aid For Suicide Ideation
There are a number of myths about suicide. It is not usually unpredictable; in 75-80% of cases, the suicidal person has given some sort of warning sign. A key myth to dispel is that talking to someone about suicide increases the risk of suicide. This is simply not true. If someone is expressing suicidal thoughts, he/she should be encouraged to seek mental health treatment. Friends and family can provide supportive listening, empathy, and encouragement to develop a safety plan. Serious warning signs of imminent suicidal risk include a specific plan and intent to commit suicide, along with access to lethal means such as firearms. If a person expresses these warning signs, emergency services should be contacted immediately.
Safety plans can include sources of support, self-soothing activities, reasons for living (such as commitment to family, pets, etc.), and safe people to call and places to go. When a person is feeling acutely distressed and overwhelmed by suicidal thoughts, it can be helpful to refer back to the safety plan.
Read more about this topic: Suicide Intervention
Famous quotes containing the words aid and/or suicide:
“Frustrate a Frenchman, he will drink himself to death; an Irishman, he will die of angry hypertension; a Dane, he will shoot himself; an American, he will get drunk, shoot you, then establish a million dollar aid program for your relatives. Then he will die of an ulcer.”
—Stanley Rudin. The New York Times (August 22, 1963)
“Unless democracy is to commit suicide by consenting to its own destruction, it will have to find some formidable answer to those who come to it saying: “I demand from you in the name of your principles the rights which I shall deny to you later in the name of my principles.””
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)