There Is Hope and Help for Suicide
When we experience physical health issues, we rarely worry that people will judge us for going to a health care provider or telling them we don’t feel well. Mental health concerns are no different. You are not alone if you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or behaviors. There is good help, and you deserve to access it so you can start to feel better.
That can be hard to do when you are feeling hopeless or thinking about suicide. You may be experiencing something called “cognitive constriction,” which is a fancy way of saying you may think things are either good or bad, acceptable or not acceptable, or right or wrong. When you feel like that, you lose touch with the fact that there is a lot of gray between those extremes.
You may feel like there is no way to stop the pain and those feelings may feel so real or true that it’s hard to understand that your brain isn’t getting the big picture. But trust us: You are not alone. There is hope and help. And you can feel much better when you get the support you need.
Most people who have suicidal thoughts end up finding ways to cope or get the support they need, and almost all people who have been suicidal or have survived suicide attempts say they are glad they lived. They find the coping skills they need, get professional help, or build a support network in order to live a life that feels worth living.
It’s common to feel like no one will understand what you’re going through or that they won’t be able to help, but people will, and you can get help.
Trust Your Instincts and Get Help
Suicide can be an impulsive act. It’s common to feel hopeless or think about suicide over an extended period, but the time between the decision to end life and an actual suicide attempt is often very short.
That’s why it’s so important to trust our instincts if we’re worried about ourselves or a friend. It’s always better to reach out and be wrong about what’s happening than to stay quiet and risk losing someone we care about or harming ourselves.
Coping with feelings of hopelessness or thoughts of suicide can be overwhelming.
- If you’re unsure what to do next, call or text 988 for a free, confidential conversation with a trained counselor anytime.
- If it is a medical emergency or if there is immediate danger of harm, call 911 and explain that you need support for a mental health crisis.
Support is here for you. You are not alone.
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