Suicidal Thoughts Self Help Guide

What are suicidal thoughts?

Suicidal thoughts can range from ideas of “wanting everything to stop”, to detailed plans about ending your life. Suicidal thoughts are a way of your mind telling you things are not right the way they are. These thoughts/feelings are a natural response to trauma.

How can you be affected by this?

• When you have experienced trauma it may cause overwhelming emotions that may make you feel like you cannot cope any longer
• You may not want to die, but you may feel like it is impossible to imagine life without this pain or like it will not get any better
• You may feel like suicide is a way of escaping from overwhelming pain and distress; or as a way of taking back control
• Having these thoughts can be exhausting and can be very frightening
• You may feel like you are completely alone with these feelings
• Having these thoughts and feelings is okay, but if you are thinking about how you may end your life or have had attempted to in the past, then it is important you get help

Remember that anyone can feel like this in their lifetime. Although these feelings may feel overwhelming right now, you can heal from the trauma you have experienced, and it won’t feel like this forever.

What can you do?

• It may be helpful to talk to someone. Sharing how you feel can help to come to terms with these feelings and help manage them. You could talk to a trusted friend/relative, partner, your GP, a mental health worker or support service or our helpline.
• If you feel you need to talk to someone in a crisis, for instance in the middle of the night, there are a number of organisations that can help such as: Samaritans, Mind, (see useful information page)
• If you don’t feel like you can talk to someone, try writing down how you are feeling
• Try and focus on what has stopped you acting on your thoughts before. What reasons do you have to carry on living?

Try to avoid:

• Being alone as this can make the thoughts worse or more intense. Try to keep distracted, speak to someone, write things down
• Using alcohol and/or drugs as these lower your inhibitions and can make you act impulsively
• Driving
• Things that make you feel upset. This could be listening to certain music, looking at photos

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, try filling out a safety plan. Keep the plan where you can easily find it when you’ll need it. And remember, these feelings will pass.