People who threaten suicide.

It's like a scale. If the person doesn't get the attention or help they're seeking they tip towards actually doing it. If they do...they dip away from it and towards something else.

It's hard to know which way and to what they're tipping towards. Catching them one way or another is a balancing act.

there's suicide and para-suicide, when someone wants to kill themselves with no chance of comeback they will do something to mutilate their body. In the instances i know one jumped in front of a speeding train and the other swallowed acid. Both spoke beforehand about killing themselves and how they would do it.

Para-suicide is more the case of taking an overdose. Its a cry for help. They dont actually want to die but cannot see any other way out of the situation they are in. Although they may not realise it, they want to be discovered and resuscitated. It may be years before they are actually pleased they were discovered and still have their lives.

All suicide threats and attempts are serious. To actually say the words "I want to kill myself" is the same as a person hanging from a cliff who wants someone to take their hand and pull them up.

I think that people who are attention whores do it but some people who really are considering it threaten suicide also do it... It's hard to figure out which is which these days and it's very dangerous.

Not everyone who talks about it follows through. But just about everyone who has followed through has talked about it, and that alone is a reason to take it seriously.

Even if they are trying to get attention, attending to them might be crucial. It could be a cry for help. Sometimes people actually need attention because they have a serious problem that they are unable to handle themselves.

I wish people would not do this. Most people who threaten will not follow through, but you should always treat every suicide threat as serious. I agree that people who threaten suicide really want attention, but at the same time, it is hard on the people they are seeking attention from and if they cry wolf, one too many times, no one will hear them.

I am actually going through this right now. He threatens all the time and really needs help with other things as well. Me and his mom called the police this last time after he destroyed stuff in the house, but he won't admitt it to the police so there is not much they can do, but even though I never called them the other times, there is now a paper trail, so now if anything else happens or we have to commit him it will help. I mean me and his mom are at a loss. She lives in Fl so she can't help but over the phone. I've been searching for help on the internet. I've talked to a doc, but unless he goes himself to get help there is nothing we can do. If we do get him commited, he can even refuse help then. WHat to do??? I have kids here too.

"I've talked to a doc, but unless he goes himself to get help there is nothing we can do. If we do get him commited, he can even refuse help then."

Since when did this all change?

I think you are wrong about that, and if someone is posing a real danger to themself, or someonelse, they can indeed be committed!
I would further look into it if I were you.

Hmmm...I think at the moment they mean it, but kinda forget about it later on. Alot of the time, people who actually kill themselves, were the ones who act happy on the outside. Sometimes they talk alot about death, give away their posesions, do things they wouldn't normally do.

This is a little off topic but I was chatting to the Student Porter at my halls in first year about the sort of thing he did. Said the first thing he was asked at the job interview was 'What would you do if someone came to you and said they were considering suicide?'

He'd had basic training in that so knew to an extent the right answer in the job interview scenario, but it got me to thinking, if someone spoke to me and told me that's what they were considering I'd have no idea where to start.

I mean the only thing I could think to do would be to ask what it is that's making them consider it.

It's just something I've been lucky enough to have never been in the position to consider, so I wouldn't be able to relate at all. I'm generally quite good at talking to people when s*** is happening, but it's normally because to some extent I can relate, even if it's on a larger scale with the other person, but suicide is something so removed from any sort of mindset I've ever been in. Dunno.

I think that any hint of someone wanting to kill themselves should be taken seriously. Not everyone can cope with things on their own and if you are irrational enough to contemplate ending your own life then you shouldn't really be left to your own devices. I hate it when people think that some of the time it's just people being attention whores, because it's not something that can be said lightly.

I take every suicide threat seriously. I'd never get over it if someone committed suicide and I ignored them.

A friend of mine took his life. His wife said they had a fight a month before his death and that he had threatened to kill himself. His words were, "I swear I'll do it!" She said he had a knife and was intoxicated.

He asphyxiated himself after having a drink or two.

I saw him not long before it happened. This man was always laid back. He joked around a lot. That day, he was very serious and quite. I just thought he and his wife weren't comfortable because we were at his parents house and she admitted they hadn't been getting along. I didn't know about his drunken threat at that time.

I still miss him. He was sleep deprived and unhappy in his marriage.

Dark

I know what you mean but surely every method of suicide is a bit dark? I mean it's hardly like you can kill yourself from puppies and rainbows.

Are you on crack? of course you can kill yourself by using puppies and rainbows! Smother yourself with the puppy and you also could go up in a plane and jump out to try and catch a rainbow,miss it and then splat!!

It's something that should be taken completely seriously. Every psychology textbook I've ever read, every psychologist I've ever spoken to, and my own personal experience all point to "people who threaten suicide are just doing it for the attention" being a flat-out myth. For a lot of people, it's a cry for help. It's their way of begging someone, or anyone, to say they care about them and that they're wanted.

The reason people think it's an attention grab is because there are a lot of people that talk about it, and then never do it. What these people don't realize is that when you're finally staring down the barrel of that gun, it's a whole other world. You have to be low to pull that trigger... almost to the point where nothing in the world could ever lift you up again, and when you're actually faced with the cold reality of death, you realize that maybe life is worth hanging onto after all.

I've been on both sides of this. I've known people that have killed themselves (some without ever saying a word about it and some who never talked about anything but suicide) and I've seriously considered the option myself (although there's only one person in the world that I would ever talk about it with). Every circumstance should be taken seriously. It never hurts to let someone know that there is a light at the end of whatever black tunnel they're walking through.