Let’s talk about suicide

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September 10th was World Suicide Prevention Day.

Hosted by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the annual awareness day gave the globe a chance the discuss Suicide and the broader topics surrounding the issue.

This year the theme of the global annual awareness day was “Creating Hope Through Action” about suicide prevention.

Unfortunately, Suicide is something that a person considers for several reasons, like believing that there is no way out of their current difficulties. It can impact many people, including family and friends.

As part of this global conversation, let’s see what causes suicide and how it can affect us.

What Causes Suicidal Thoughts?

There is no one cause of Suicide in either men or women. We know that men are more likely to take their lives and that people are more at risk at middle age. There are said to be many factors that can influence whether someone decides to take their life or not.

A person may decide to take their life if they are struggling to cope with events that they cannot deal with, such as finches, relationships, remorse or guilt, grief – the list goes on.

Most of the time, someone will decide to take their life as a last resort and a way out as they often feel alone or backed into a corner.

Once someone first experiences suicidal thoughts, distressing situations are likely to trigger those thoughts repeatedly.

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or know that someone else is, you are not alone, and help is available.

Wider Mental Health

Mental health issues can impact a person if they have lost someone to Suicide. There are times when someone can experience multiple problems at once, which can inflame, affect, and interact with each other in many ways.

PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is possible when someone has gone through the trauma of losing someone close to them to Suicide.

PTSD comes from the stress experienced and can cause people to struggle with controlling or expressing their feelings.

Those struggling with PTSD will likely experience nightmares, flashbacks, and other traumatic memories of a triggering event.

Anxiety

Anxiety is another common mental health condition that can plague a person after losing a loved one to Suicide.

Suicide can cause a person to experience increased uncertainty about their lives and more stress and worrying thoughts.

When experiencing anxiety due to Suicide, a person is more likely to worry about others in their lives going through the same event.

Depression

Suicide brings grief, which can affect someone in many ways depending on their resilience and current mental health status.

The Suicide of a loved one can feel as if it came out of nowhere. This loss can bring about low mood and depression, which can leave a person feeling sad, angry, irritable and at a loss with how to go on.

Depression often causes a person to feel bleak and hopeless, and at times there are those who are pushed to Suicide themselves as they struggle to cope with their thoughts and feelings.

If you are worried about Suicide or know someone struggling to cope with a loss, consider speaking confidentially to Dr Nick, who can help you find the right tools to feel better. You can also find more help and information over at the Stronger Minds blog.