Suicide Support. Suicide prevention. 11 Positive Ideas. Mental Health Self Help. Suicide Counseling and Awareness.

Suicide Support: For those with thoughts of suicide, keep hope, don't give up. After a storm is a calm, life is worth living, and God values your life. Even if you give up on yourself, God doesn't. There is a true purpose in life and reason to live

Even when things are at their worse, their is something higher than our own lives to live for, a higher purpose that makes life worth living. Knowing this can help us keep going when we might feel like giving up.

Support for Those with Feelings of Suicide

1. 1. Self-acceptance - Accept mercy for yourself. Life is not all or nothing. We all make mistakes, and we all have failures. Life is all about making mistakes and learning from them. Learning to accept mistakes we have made in the past and realizing that we will do the same in the future can help us. Be patient with yourself, give yourself time to make adjustments if you feel you need to make improvement in some aspect of your life. It is better to repair a masterpiece than throw it away. Work hard towards improving your life or situation, but don't be overly-critical of yourself.

2. Engage in regularly-scheduled exercise. Walking briskly outdoors is one of the best therapies. It is a forward-looking activity. It positively affects the chemical balance in our mind. It helps us to be positive, and to pull out of depressive states. It can help to stabilize symptoms associated with bipolar disorder and other mental health disorders. Some have said that swimming or other forms of light-contact exercise have helped them deal with negative feelings.

3. Try to avoid watching long hours of the television and the television news. Consider doing without a television for a year or more. For some, the television news or other programs which focus on tragedy or other negative themes, can contribute to feelings of despair. Learned-helplessness can be one psychological side-effect of watching too much of the news, according to psychologist Aric Sigman, Ph.D.

Many movies can influence the mind by arousing feelings of despair, emotional turmoil or unresolved conflict. Additionally, the nature of non-participatory, passive entertainment, in itself, can dull the mind or contribute to depression. In non-participatory entertainment, watching television or movies for entertainment, as examples, the viewer loses control over the situations presented, and can only passively watch. When this becomes a way of life, it can be a factor contributing to depression, which can lead to feelings of suicide for some.

Finding more-active, mind-engaging, participant-oriented forms of entertainment can contribute towards positive emotions, greater self-esteem, and help in overcoming feelings of suicide.

4. Music. Some forms of music may contribute to feelings of suicide or even directly or indirectly suggest the idea of suicide. This can especially true of some Heavy Metal music, some alternative music, or some other forms of music.

Music which expresses self-loathing, can contribute to self-hate if the individual listening finds identity with the emotions expressed in the song. Music which focuses on the negative, dark, pessimistic, or that conveys angry or negative emotions, as well as that which carries themes of the occult or spiritism, may contribute to negative emotions in the listener, and for some, can contribute to feelings of suicide. This can especially be true of teens or young adults, who have not yet developed enough life experience to sort through negative emotions in a broader context.

5. Avoid drugs and alcohol - Avoiding drugs and alcohol, as well as maintaining a balanced diet can be of help. Physical factors affect our energy levels and our mental resilience. Alcohol is a depressant, and while providing temporary relief from anxieties, after the affect of the alcohol diminishes, feelings of depression or hopelessness can ensue. This can also be true of prescription drug anti-anxiety medications.

A healthy diet can have a positive mental affect. Skipping meals on a regular basis, can lead to low mental energy levels and can contribute to depression. This, in turn, can lead to feelings of suicide, or despair, in times of crisis or stressful situations.

If you feel diet is an issue that you are having a hard time making adjustments with, enlist the help of your family, consult with diet professionals such as a nutritionist, or participate in a support group.

6. Social - If you have few social contacts, get involved with some organization, club or volunteer your time. Don’t spend too much time alone. Perhaps the best solution to depressive or suicidal feelings is represented by involvement with other people. Spending time pro-actively with other people, more than anything else, can help to change our feelings in a positive way.

7. Romantic relationships - Nevertheless, avoid dwelling on the thought that you need to have a mate to be happy. Some people give into thoughts of suicide after having been through a bad relationship. Realize that it is possible to be successful and happy, even optimally happy, as a single person, and without being in a sexual relationship.

Sometimes we are disappointed in love relationships, but we have to keep our hope alive and look forward. All of us have had difficult relationship-related situations. It is not the end, even though it may represent an end of one phase of our life. Life continues and we recover. Don’t defeat yourself with a negative view of yourself and the future because of a bad situation with a boyfriend or girlfriend. You will get over it, and you can find true fulfillment in life.

8. Along those lines, monogamy, as opposed to promiscuity, contributes to a more stable emotional state. Rejection after fleeting sexual encounters, or casual sex, can contribute to despair or impulsive feelings of suicide. For some, promiscuity, or even excessive masturbation, or indulgence in pornography can lead to feelings of suicide. Avoiding sexually arousing entertainment and any form of pornography, can contribute to greater emotional stability. Viewing too much sexually-charged material may be one link in the chain that leads to suicidal thoughts for some.

9. Don’t hesitate to get support. Friends, family, professionals in school, psychologists, a minister, can all be of help. Opening up to a supportive listener can assist in healing emotional wounds that might be contributing to suicidal thinking.

10.Sometimes use of psychiatric medicines themselves can lead to suicidal thoughts that might not have been there previously. Clinical studies confirm that use of antidepressants actually double the risk of suicidal thoughts for children and young adults, especially during the initial months of their use, or when switching medications. For some, tranquilizers or major tranquilizers, and antipsychotics have also contributed to suicidal thinking. Note, however, that discontinuing medications abruptly is not recommended. Simply stopping medications that one has been taking for a long period of time can have devastating affects.

11. A Sacred View of Life and Spiritual Healing - We should develop a profound awareness that one’s own life, and life itself, is valuable, and that there is a higher purpose to life than our mere day-to-day existence. This helps us look beyond our own immediate struggles or despair towards a higher reason to live, even if we feel like giving up. Life should be viewed as sacred, and this should be remembered by those who are religious and by those who are non-religious.

Prayer (Off-site link) can be of help to many. If we look to God as accepting and merciful, rather than vengeful or condemning, this can be of much help in our self-view. For those who believe in a personal God, prayer might be considered to be more than memorizing verses, it can be considered to be open and honest communication with God.

Healthy spirituality is a vital ingredient towards good mental health, and this is true of adults, teens and even children.

Please read the following:

Anyone who is on medication should not come off abruptly. Sudden change in one's medication regimen can cause problems. Anyone who has suicidal thoughts and is trying to come off of medication, should do so under a doctor's supervision and come off gradually.

This website is for informative and educational purposes only and any decisions that one makes in his or her treatment, or for their children are on a personal basis and The Association for Natural Psychology (AYCNP) bears no responsibility for individual decisions on mental health.

Organizations Providing Support for Suicide Prevention

National Suicide Prevention Directory Off-site link
Contact information for suicide prevention agencies. Listed by state.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Off-site link
Locate support groups for friends and families of suicide victims.

Suicide Awareness\Voices of Education Off-site link
Includes an FAQ, general information on suicide, some common statistics, symptoms of depression, literature.

Pages Related to Suicide Help and Prevention

Suicide Counseling - 10 Helpful Ideas

Use of Marijuana - Suicide Risk, Increase in Rate of Schizophrenia

Spirituality and Mental Health

Suicide Phone Hotlines - for Support

National Suicide Prevention Hotline
1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433)

Deaf Hotline: 1-800-799-4TTY (1-800-799-4889)

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)

Boystown Hotline
1-800-448-3000

Covenant House Nineline
1-800-999-9999