Suicidal Thoughts How To Support Someone Factsheet 1
Suicidal Thoughts How To Support Someone Factsheet 1
Suicidal Thoughts How To Support Someone Factsheet 1
Suicide is when someone purposely ends their own life. This factsheet
looks at why someone might think about suicide and how you can help
them.
There is rarely a single thing that makes someone want to end their own
life. Experts believe that a number of complex issues can make someone
feel this way. 1
If someone is thinking about suicide, they often feel nothing will help with
the problems that are making them feel suicidal.
Certain things can make someone more likely to think about suicide.
These might include:
Some people might feel confused why they want to take their own life.
Some people may definitely want to die while some people may not care if
they live or die.
Some people feel guilty for thinking about suicide if they have people who
care about them.
Top
2
2. What are the warning signs?
There are some signs that suggest someone is more likely to try suicide.
These include:6
It is rare for someone to be certain that they want to end their own life.
Most people will be undecided about suicide, seeing some ‘pros’ and
‘cons’ of living and dying.
A lot of people try to seek help before attempting suicide by telling other
people about their feelings or by self-harming to show people that they are
in emotional pain.
Top
If you think that someone may be feeling suicidal, encourage them to talk
about how they are feeling.
let the person know that you care about them and that they are not
alone,
make sure someone is with them if they are in immediate danger,
try to get professional help for the person feeling suicidal and
support for yourself.
3
You could reassure the person that they will not feel this way forever and
that they can get help, including help from a doctor.
If you are not sure that someone is feeling suicidal, you could ask:
These questions might seem direct but it is better to address the person’s
feelings directly than to skirt around the issue. Most people do not have
this sort of conversation every day and so you may feel uncomfortable and
unsure of what to say. This is entirely normal and understandable.
However, you can help by being calm, supportive and non-judgemental.
Try to see the world as the person sees it. Try to do this without judging,
criticising or blaming them.
If you talk to someone about their feelings and it seems as though they
want to end their life soon, try to keep them safe in the short term. It is
unlikely that you will be able to make their feelings go away, but you can
help by making them see that there are some things worth living for.
4
It might help to: 8
If you live with the person, you could also try to remove things from the
house that they could use to take their own life. The kind of thing you
could try to remove depends on the person’s immediate plan for taking
their own life. They could include sharp objects and knives, cleaning
products, medicines and belts. If the person is in crisis, do not leave them
alone.
Section 4 goes into more detail about how to get professional help for
someone.
You can find out more about how to get someone help in the following
factsheets:
You can download these at www.rethink.org. Or call 0121 522 7007 and
ask for the information to be sent to you.
Top
How someone gets help from a crisis team varies between different areas
of the country. You may be able to contact them as a friend or family
member. GPs, Accident and Emergency departments (A & E) and the
police can also ask them to see someone.
You can get more information in our ‘Crisis Teams’ factsheet available
from www.rethink.org. You can also get a hard copy by calling us on 0121
522 7007.
5
Accident and Emergency department
If someone is feeling suicidal, you could try and them to a local hospital
that has an Accident and Emergency department (A&E). Staff can speak
to them about how they are feeling and ‘triage staff’ will decide if they need
to be admitted to hospital or not.
You can give A&E staff as much information as possible so they can make
the right decision.
Emergency services
If you think that someone is in urgent danger, is going to try and take their
life immediately or has already tried, call 999.
Other services
Crisis houses help people in crisis and are an alternative to going
into hospital. Usually people only stay in a crisis house from a
couple of days up to a month. The NHS, charities and other
services run them. They are not available in every area of the
country but you can check what there is locally through the local
crisis team or doing a search online.
Hospital
When someone is feeling suicidal and has tried to take their own life or
plans to, usually they will be taken to hospital. Sometimes they might be
treated at home or visited regularly by the crisis or home treatment team.
After someone has been in hospital, going back home can be difficult and
someone may still need a lot of support.
A&E do not always pass details onto the local crisis team. If they don’t,
then you can contact the crisis team instead.
If this happens, the GP should think about asking for help from the local
mental health services such as the Community Mental Health Team
(CMHT). This sort of team can give more specialist help.
The person you are supporting could get help under the ‘Care Programme
Approach’ (CPA) if they meet the criteria. CPA is used to organise many
people’s care who are under mental health services and who have
complex needs.
You can find more information about CMHTs and CPA at www.rethink.org,
or call 0121 522 7007 and ask for the information to be sent to you.
Top
People with mental illnesses are generally more likely to feel suicidal and
try to take their own lives than people who do not have mental illnesses. 10
Research also shows that a person could be more likely to try to end their
own life if they have recently been discharged from a mental health
hospital or unit. 11 At this time, it is important someone gets the right
support.
Making sure that someone attends appointments with health services and
has a care plan in place is important to keep someone well and prevent
them feeling suicidal.
Top
There are different views on whether someone trying to take their own life
is the same as self-harm.
People do not normally self-harm to take their own life. Instead, people
can self harm to deal with emotional pain, punish themselves or express
distress to other people. 12
If the person you care for self-harms, they may do this privately and may
not want to talk openly about it. You can try to talk to them about why they
do it. Let them know that you do not judge them and are there to talk if
they need to. If they refuse to stop self-harming then you may be able to
persuade them to do it safely, or to try safer alternative methods. It is
unlikely that they will stop altogether just because you have asked them
to.
7
You can get more information in our ‘Self-harm‘ factsheet which you
can download at www.rethink.org.
Top
If you know someone who talks about or has tried suicide, you might feel
upset, frustrated, confused or scared. These are all normal responses.
Top
You can use emotional support telephone services if you want to talk to
someone about how you are feeling. You could tell the person you care for
about these services. You may want to talk to someone about the effect
the situation is having on you.
Samaritans
The Samaritans give people telephone, letter and email emotional and
practical support. Their volunteers are trained in supporting people who
feel suicidal but are able to provide a listening ear to anyone that needs it,
whether or not they are suicidal.
Saneline
This is a national helpline offering emotional support and information for
people affected by mental health problems.
8
Support Line
Support line offers confidential emotional support to adults and children by
telephone, email and post. They try to help people find positive ways to
cope, feel strong on this inside and feel better about themselves.
Maytree
This is a London-based charity supporting people who feel suicidal. They
offer different services including a place where people can stay for a few
nights and have someone to talk to. It is not a medical service. They have
trained volunteers for people to speak to as well as time for rest and
relaxation. People can only stay there once.
9
Top
1
NHS Choices. Suicide – Causes. 2016 ]
2
World Health Organisation. Preventing Suicide: A global imperative.
2014.http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/131056/1/9789241564779_e
ng.pdf [Accessed March 2016]
3
As note 1
4
Arsenault-Lapierre et al. Psychiatric diagnoses in 3275 suicides: a meta-
analysis. BMC Psychiatry. 2004; 4: 37. Published online 2004 Nov 4.
Available online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC534107/
[Accessed February 2016]
5
World Health Organisation. Preventing suicide: A resource for general
physicians. 2000:P8-10. www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/56.pdf
[Accessed March 2016]
6
NHS Choices. Suicide Warning signs.
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Suicide/Pages/warning-signs.aspx [Accessed
February 2016]
7
World Health Organisation. Preventing suicide: A resource at work.
2006: pg19
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43502/1/9241594381_eng.pdf
[Accessed February 2016]
8
Ramsey, R.F. Suicide Intervention Handbook 10th Ed. Calgary :Living
Works; 2004, pgs 63-70.
9
The College of Emergency Medicine. Mental health in emergency
departments. (2013) pg 11-12 www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/CEM6883-Mental-
Health-in-EDs---toolkit-(FINAL-FEB-2013)-rev1.pdf ]Accessed February
2016]
10
See references 1 and 4
11
Crawford, M.J. Suicide following discharge from inpatient psychiatric
care. Advances in psychiatric treatment, 2004:10; 434-438. Available from
http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/10/6/434.full.pdf+html [Accessed February
2016]
12
Royal College of Psychiatrists. Self-harm, Suicide and Risk: helping
people who self-harm. London: RCPsych; 2010 pg 22-23.
10
© Rethink Mental Illness 2014
Last updated March 2016
Next update March 2019