As suicide prevention month came to an end yesterday, it’s been a great initiative to raise awareness for this worldwide. This post is to further expand the awareness. As with all illnesses, they are easier to cure if discovered early.

The person who is suicidal once thought it was never going to be for them. You would also assume people around you would never turn to that either. It has become a hard thought for people to digest that mental illnesses are real enough to lead people to take their own life. Let’s take a minute to understand the process:

Suicide does not grow from the thought of taking your own life, it grows from the thought that your life is no longer the life you want to live. Over time this thought develops into not wanting a life because of the negativity attached to it. Mental health strains are the main trigger and they form from a hard hitting situational change or a mental illness that has developed over time. The mental illness will reduce the mental strength in a person therefore allowing the negative thought to gain strength over a person’s ability to make life decisions.

Once a person is experiencing a weakness towards overriding negative thoughts this is where the suicidal thoughts will begin to develop. Biologically our bodies are built with an off switch type of phenomena for when pain levels peak above what is bearable. The body goes into a coma. Similarly when a mental health strain becomes persistent in the mind the thought of escaping the fight becomes addictive and the person will find that thought reappears more regularly.

Externally we would never know a person is experiencing an increase in suicidal thoughts. The person will be able to overturn those thoughts but if their mental health deteriorates then they’ll lose the ability to overturn the thoughts. After this a negative emotional episode can be enough to push them over the edge.

Suicide due to mental illness is a savage force, it’s the worst outcome and leaves a mark on the rest of the family as they feel they could have helped therefore take blame on themselves. Helping a person clear suicidal thoughts is done on an emotional level and a logical level. Emotionally the family and friends tend to be able to help but until it’s cleared from their thought process the person is still at risk. The best case scenario is that the person receives the right help and has increased motivation to better their life. This is why awareness on this topic is important.

Do reach out if you have further questions around this topic. If you experience a mental illness be sure to check you have someone close to you that understands this topic and how to monitor it for you.

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