Suicide Education & Support Services

Understanding Suicide

Suicide is the most complex and difficult human behavior to understand. It seems to be a solution to a problem. More often, it seems to be a solution to many insolvable problems. Although sometimes an impulsive act, most people will think about suicide for days, weeks, months or even years before they make an attempt.

Suicide can take on many forms and sometimes suicide threats are a way to control other people's behavior. Most often, though, feeling suicidal and wanting to die are symptoms of depression. There is excellent treatment available for depression; we must understand that suicidal thoughts are associated with disturbances in the brain chemistry and can be treated with counseling and medication.

The very idea that someone wants to die is frightening. When someone threatens suicide, the most natural reaction is fear which can lead to denial.  Denial is how we cope when we are confronted with something too terrible to contemplate. Fear and Denial are normal reactions to someone talking about suicide.