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Signs of Suicide and
Coping Suggestions
by Katrina Sanford

Suicide as most people know is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. It is usually committed out of despair and attributed to underlying issues such as depression, mental disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. Normal everyday issues of stress and pressures often play a significant role in someone completing suicide.

Someone who is suicidal can appear to be withdrawn, depressed, emotional, have a lack of appetite, oversleeps, suffer from anxiety, experience insomnia, show a lack of interest in activities, they are easily irritated and may ask questions or make statements like “Am I a good person?”, “Life’s not worth living”., or “I hate my life.” 

Possible triggers for people affected by suicidal ideation are losing someone to death; break up in romantic relationships, moving, loss of freedom or privileges. These things can appear to be overwhelming and too much to handle to people who are suffering from the mental illness, attracting suicidal ideation as their only way to handle the situation.

If you believe someone in your life is suicidal please encourage them to seek help from a counselor or therapist. If you think they are suicidal and believe they will not seek help then please call the police and have them professionally evaluated at the local hospital. You can have someone of age admitted against their will if you can convince a doctor that person truly possesses the potential to harm themselves or others.

Coping with suicidal thoughts is not easy. It can be a daily fight for some people who choose to live. It’s like having an extreme craving and nagging at the brain that the only way to get it to stop is to do the suicidal act. If you are coping with suicidal ideation then please seek help from a doctor. When feeling suicidal, talk to someone you trust and have them lock up all medications, and weapons. Journaling all the things you feel good and bad and then burn the writing when you are done. This is mental help and a way to keep it private at the same time. During times of strong urgency to do self-harm, Get on the phone and call a friend or family member. Talk with that person until you are feeling safe. If talking to someone doesn't appear to be helping contact the local hospital and admit yourself to seek the help you need. The following website may offer you some help if you or someone you know are suicidal http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 
1-800-273-Talk (8255)

Loss of Spouse Chat Invite MGS member Judy Su would like to invite members who have lost a spouse or partner to chat.... For more information and updates, please login to the MGS "Loss of A Spouse / Partner Group" and scroll down to read the group bulletins.

Grief Support Resources

I am not sure what the differences are between grief counseling, coaching, therapy and support groups. Can you help clear this up? 

It can be somewhat confusing, and even moreso now as the field of grief work evolves. Most important is finding support you are comfortable with, and that is effective towards supporting and helping you.

Grief Therapy: Grief Therapy will help you with both normal and complicated grief issues in a one-on-one setting. Therapists are degreed and licensed and many specialize in bereavement.

Grief Counseling: Grief counseling will help you understand and cope with normal grief. This includes counseling, locating resources and ongoing support. Counselors should be certified and/or licensed by a reputable school.

Grief Coaching: Coaching is about helping grievers recognize the challenges they face, then developing plans and strategies for achieving specified goals. Qualified coaches should be certified by a reputable school or organization.

Grief Support Groups: Support Groups are a gathering of people sharing their losses and offering peer support to one another. Groups can be peer-led or led by a therapist, counselor or coach. Groups can be loss specific, or include all types of loss. Some groups are "open ended" and others have a begin and end date. It is important to do some homework and find a good fit that best suits your needs.

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Our special community is all about sharing. Once you complete your own profile and post info about yourself and your own losses, we recommend spending time looking around and posting responses to member Blogs and forum comments.

Responding to others is a great way to start networking with members for mutual support.

By visiting a GROUP related to your personal loss, you will be able to see other site members with losses similar to your own. You can then click on their name to visit their Profile Page and read about them, view links to their Blogs and groups, and contact them to comment on their postings or perhaps introduce yourself and offer your condolences for their loss.

Our groups, forums, Blogs, new Facebook Group and member profiles are a great way to meet new people and share your experiences with others as a part of your journey with loss, grief and coping.