In this Article

• What is suicide?
• What are the effects of suicide?
• What are some possible causes of suicide?
• What are the risk factors and protective factors for suicide?
• What are the signs and symptoms for suicide?
• How are suicidal thoughts and behaviors assessed?
• How are suicidal thoughts and behaviors treated?
• How can people cope with suicidal thoughts?
• How can people cope with the suicide of a loved one?
• Where can people get help?
• Suicide At A Glance
• Suicide Glossary
• Suicide Index

What are the effects of suicide?

The effects of suicidal behavior or completed suicide on friends and family members are often devastating. Individuals who lose a loved one from suicide (suicide survivors) are more at risk for becoming preoccupied with the reason for the suicide while wanting to deny or hide the cause of death, wondering if they could have prevented it, feeling blamed for the problems that preceded the suicide, feeling rejected by their loved one, and stigmatized by others. Survivors may experience a great range of conflicting emotions about the deceased, feeling everything from intense sadness about the loss, helpless to prevent it, longing for the person they lost, anger at the deceased for taking their own life to relief if the suicide took place after years of physical or mental illness in their loved one. This is quite understandable given that the person they are grieving is at the same time the victim and the perpetrator of the fatal act.

Individuals left behind by the suicide of a loved one tend to experience complicated grief in reaction to that loss. Symptoms of grief that may be experienced by suicide survivors include intense emotion and longings for the deceased, severely intrusive thoughts about the lost loved one, extreme feelings of isolation and emptiness, avoiding doing things that bring back memories of the departed, new or worsened sleeping problems, and having no interest in activities that the sufferer used to enjoy.

What are some possible causes of suicide?

Life circumstances that may immediately precede someone committing suicide include the time period of at least a week after discharge from a psychiatric hospital or a sudden change in how the person appears to feel (for example, much worse or much better). An example of a possible trigger (precipitant) for suicide is a real or imagined loss, like the breakup of a romantic relationship, moving, loss (especially if by suicide) of a friend, loss of freedom, or loss of other privileges.

Firearms are by far the most common means by which people take their life, accounting for nearly 60% of suicide deaths per year. Older people are more likely to kill themselves using a firearm compared to younger people. Some individuals commit suicide by threatening police officers, sometimes even with an unloaded gun or a fake weapon. That is commonly referred to as "suicide by cop." Although firearms are the most common way people complete suicide, trying to overdose on medication is the most common way people attempt to kill themselves.

From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com

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