Question
Is suicide preventable?
Answer
Suicide can be prevented. Most people who are suicidal do not want to die. Studies and interviews with people who have attempted suicide that was not completed have found that people who were attempting suicide simply wanted to stop their pain. They felt hopeless and they could not see any other way to end the pain, the intense, insufferable pain that they were feeling.
There are also almost always warning signs for someone who is having ideas about suicide or contemplating completing suicide. And another thing to consider is that asking people if they are thinking about suicide does not give them the idea for suicide. It is important to talk about suicide with people who are suicidal because you will learn more about their mindset and intentions, and that's another myth that's related to the concept of once people decide they want to complete suicide, there's nothing you can do to stop them, that's not actually true. Talking with the person about suicide is an important first step in helping prevent suicide.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, Suicide Awareness, Assessment and Intervention for Allied Health Professionals, Module 1, presented by Nika Ball, MOT, OTR/L, ATP and Angela Moss, PhD, RN, APRN-BC.
