There are some fundamental aspects of suicidality that I have learned through my research and decades of counseling suicidal people. Find out more in my book, “Just Because You’re Suicidal Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy“.
- Suicidality is amazingly common1
- The action is usually impulsive and acute however the thought pattern that sets it in motion is chronic2
- It has its basis in adverse childhood experiences3
- The process is completely unconscious4
- Thinking about suicide becomes an excellent and successful coping mechanism5
- When faced with overwhelming situations which can’t be resolved by the individual (one feels helpless)
- This causes stress – elevated cortisol which creates the need for relief
- Thoughts of “not being here” repeatedly bring on the relief of “feel good” endorphins
- Repeated “feel good” endorphins build a thought neural pathway which gets more entrenched over time
- “Not being here” progresses to “Not being anywhere” (suicide) in order to bring relief (the need for increased endorphins to achieve the same relief)5
- Suicidal thought operates as a coping mechanism for dealing with overwhelming difficulty, however, sooner or later it becomes a negative and destructive pattern that prevents problem solving6
The progression is totally unconscious
- Suicidal people do not know where their suicidality came from or why it continues2,4,5
- Suicidal people are convinced by society that there is something inexplicably wrong with them2,4,5
- Suicidal people have no natural insight into how to defeat their suicidality2,4,5
- Suicidal people do not know that their “not wanting to be here” neural pathway is permanent5
- Suicidal people do not know that their negative emotions are warning signs that they have a problem needing immediate attention towards solution7
- Suicidal people do not know that they can solve any problem with the help of an educated support system5
The Conspiracy of Denial is the one thing that promotes suicidality. What is The Conspiracy of Denial5? – Common attitudes, beliefs, and actions that innocently deny a person’s suicidality. People usually deny the reality of a person’s suicidality because they do not want to believe that this person would consider such a drastic thing. After all, why would people who do not think about suicide think anyone else would? To them, it is truly “unthinkable”.
“A non-suicidal person can only see why a person would want to live. A suicidal person has difficulty giving those reasons more value than the promise of escaping the pain of existence.” (Just Because You’re Suicidal Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy (2012), p. 111)
Refuse to partake in the Conspiracy of Denial and tell people the truth when they make comments that perpetuate the Conspiracy of Denial.
Listen to more about the Conspiracy of Denial at www.americanheroesnetwork.com (Sept. 3, 2013 broadcast).
References
1 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (WISQARS): www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars
2 http://forums.psychcentral.com/depression/10363-coping-suicide-ideation.html
3 Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
http://www.cdc.gov/ace/findings.htm
4 http://forums.psychcentral.com/depression/65258-suicidal-ideation.html
5 Jensen, R. 2012. Just Because You’re Suicidal Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy: The Psychobiology of Suicide.
6http://www.helpguide.org/mental/suicide_help.htm 7http://my.clevelandclinic.org/healthy_living/stress_management/hic_warning_signs_of_emotional_stress_when_to_see_your_doctor.aspx
“Just Because You’re Suicidal Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy: The Psychobiology of Suicide” – Download to your E-reader or as PDF to your computer at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/209400
more info at www.jsp3.org