Mental Health Daily’s Mental Health Blog gathered 10 powerful quotes and sayings aimed at suicide prevention. Since we are nearing the end of Mental Health Awareness month (May), I thought I’d share these quotes and sayings with you. The above-mentioned blog post provides some helpful comments after each quote. Consider visiting it. I thought they were very helpful, and were a quick read.
- “When you feel like giving up, just remember the reason why you held on for so long.” – Unknown
- “Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better.” – Unknown
- “If you are looking for a sign not to kill yourself, this is it.” – Unknown
- “Anyone desperate enough for suicide should be desperate enough to go to creative extremes to solve problems: elope at midnight, stow away on the boat to New Zealand and start over, do what they always wanted to do but were afraid to try.” – Richard Bach
- “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
- “If you want to show me that you really love me, don’t say that you would die for me, instead stay alive for me.” – Unknown
- “Place your hand over your heart, can you feel it? That is called purpose. You’re alive for a reason so don’t ever give up.” – Unknown
- “The person who completes suicide, dies once. Those left behind die a thousand deaths, trying to relive those terrible moments and understand … Why?” – Clark (2001)
- “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
- “Never never never give up.” – Winston Churchill
In my family alone, I know of two people who have contemplated and/or attempted suicide. One of which is me. The two of us are just the ones I know about. Often people struggle with suicidal thoughts that go unshared. I am so glad that we have both survived these horrible times in our life. I also know that it is possible that such thoughts could return someday. Depression can turn what was logical thinking into illogical thinking. The quotes and sayings above are important for me to remember. Being open about my thoughts with my loved one and/or mental health support team is most crucial.
If you feel suicidal, please tell someone close to you, go to your local Emergency Room or call the Emergency phone number in your country (e.g. 911 in the U.S.) Alternatively, most countries have Suicide Hotlines to call. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline in the U.S. can be reached at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
one of by therapist shared with me his techniques when dealing with suicidal patience. they can be used by anyone.
1. ask them what thing are things are going on for them to feel that way.
2. listen, just listen. this is not a time to solve the world’s problems or your friend’s.
3. show that you care.
4. let them know you are their them.
think of the time you felt suicidal. i felt alone, that no body cared, that no one would listen to me, that nobody knew what was going on. imagine before my pronouncement, a couple of these were switched. i likely wouldn’t have been at the place of feeling suicidal. i wouldn’t have been quite so close to the ragged edge, see and have a reason to live.
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Thank you so much, bipolarsojourner for sharing those techniques. I hope there will be many people reading your comment in this post.
It is the worst when we feel alone in the illness. I think sometimes that makes it hard to even reach out, at least it did for me. Sometimes I felt like I wanted the help, but didn’t know how to ask for it. Sometimes it seems like you could just disappear, but it is important to remember that others will be affected and that things do change with patience.
I’m not entirely thrilled about the quote #4 in my post, but I included it in case others find it helpful.
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in need of help and hard to reach out, that’s the tricky beast isolation, that over-independence we’ve talked about. when the going gets rough, i can take care of it myself. there’s that over-independence and isolation.
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I found it took a lot of time for me to accept I needed help. I just got to the point where it was beyond my own control.
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all i can say is i’m glad you found out soon enough.
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Very useful post.
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Thank you, Subbashini. I’m glad it is helpful.
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You are welcome
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Thank you for sharing & for your beautiful vulnerability. From experience it feels at the time like you’re the only one going through this but thats the lie we almost believe. The truth is we are human & if one person is going through something another person will have experienced it before. Therefore we are all here to share our wisdom, share our support of one another & help each other through the times we need to be carried for a while. Then when our turn comes we can help carry another in empathy. Much love to all those who struggle with living in this world today. Thanks again for sharing bright soul.
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Annie, I’m so grateful for the words you wrote in your comment. Yes, it is so true that though people having such feelings may feel alone, they are not the only ones who’ve experienced such pain. So many more people than we realize have had these feelings.
Now more than any time in history I think we have access to various sources of help. Not just family, friends, religious counselors, and doctors, but various support hotlines and groups online and in-person. Examples of such groups are included in the SUPPORT FOR MENTAL ILLNESS link at the top of my blog page. Though some support groups cannot provide suicide counseling (that’s best provided by a doctor or hotline), they can offer support discussing the feelings of depression.
I have lived with episodes of depression throughout my life. I wish they never happened, but one thing was sure, they eventually let up and I am eternally grateful for the help I’ve received from my doctors and so many others.
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Very beautiful quotes you have posted in the blog, it is so much encouraging, great post! Up down flight!👍
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Thank you, Hussein Allam.
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Most welcome🙂
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Hi Updownflight,
Hope you doing well.
This is notify you that i have nominated for this award Liebster, please check it out here is the link; https://hussein1987.wordpress.com/2017/05/28/liebster-award/
Warm regards,
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this comes to heart.
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Thank you, Anna for commenting on my post.
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https://thoughts68.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/a-quest-for-fire-an-unquenchable-thirst/ how would you save her?
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thoughts68, I certainly don’t have all the answers for every struggling person. I can certainly offer things I hope will help. Some of the messages in my post are meant to help. If they don’t succeed it doesn’t mean they were worthless in mentioning.
I hope the lady you write about in your post is still alive. If she isn’t I feel extremely sad. It’s a tragedy. Too many people are lost because of suicide.
I have threatened myself in the past and ended up in the hospital. I was lucky I survived the threat. Sometimes I reached out and received help, sometimes I felt I wasn’t heard and went to desperate measures to figuratively scream it out. Yes, I was lucky I did manage to get help in the end. It took a while, years of therapy and multiple medication changes but I am well and value my life, even if it’s considered far from “perfect” to many.
I appreciate that you wrote about suicide. I think it’s good when many people write about suicide. It’s a taboo subject still, but shouldn’t be so.
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The person in my post is still alive today and I see her fight everyday still trying to let go of the parasite that has caught hold of her!But the harder thing is she leads a life without purpose and that deeply saddens me. Can I ask you how exactly the therapy you underwent helped you and how are you a much better person today?
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thoughts68, I’m so happy to learn that the person in your post is still alive. I’m sorry that she feels her life is without purpose. I can relate to that. Depression takes away all motivation and interest in things you love, sometimes.
I hope this person has some people that can support her. I don’t know if you are her friend or if you can ask someone she knows better to reach out to her. That certainly helps. A very good therapist and psychiatrist is also crucial.
I think besides above other keys to my recovery were support groups. I joined a couple of the ones I mention in the “Support Mental Illness” link at the top of my blog page. They generally discourage or don’t allow suicide talk (that’s best discussed with a doctor, therapist or hotline), but they give support and allow people to talk about their pain.
Finding the right medications in conjunction with therapy was crucial to my recovery. It’s not always easy to find the right mix, but it does eventually happen. Unfortunately we sometimes have to be patient during times when patience is very difficult. I have never met anyone who didn’t eventually get past depression. There is always hope.
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Thanks take care
Love Mo
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You, too, Mo.
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I went through many years of extreme ups and downs with bipolar before I realized there was a problem and reached out for help. My past is marked by several failed attempts at suicide. Looking back, I don’t even know for sure why I wanted to end my life. But as you also mentioned, I recall feeling alone, as though no one cared. Everyone was always in a hurry to go places and do things, and no one bothered to look at me and notice that I was hurting. Someday I’ll tell my story on my blog.
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Thank you for sharing this, lindaluna583. Do tell your story if/when you feel comfortable doing so, and if it would serve to help you in some way.
I want to tell you that it was only a couple of weeks after I wrote this post that my own 24 year old nephew took his own life. Oh my God! I had no idea!
I want you to know my whole family is devastated beyond belief. I can’t explain how devastated we are. I, myself, have hardly gotten out of bed since. All I do, really, is lay in bed with my laptop writing. My therapist is encouraging me to do so because it is the only thing that keeps me from crying and perhaps sane. Since his death I have written two posts with him in mind to somehow in some way talk to him. I have also written some posts that are totally unrelated so that my mind doesn’t ONLY dwell on his death. And this is just me. My sister, brother-in-law, other nephew, father, brother and my nephew’s other family are no better, or even worse than me now.
When I first learned of my nephew’s death just a week and a half ago I was screaming and crying all day. Then “should haves” and “could haves” set in. Then anger (not at my nephew, but other people) set in. All I can say is he had a future, and in that future there would be good times even if there were also bad times. And he would have continued to enrich our lives as long as we lived.
Suicide is not the answer. It’s NOT! But I do know that it is a sly son of a bitch in that it sometimes tells the depressed that it is the answer.
People sometimes are in a hurry. People, like me, are sometimes wrapped up in their own difficulties that its hard to give enough to others. We, too, become victims of the horrible wiles of depression. I can tell you that now I wish I talked to my nephew every day of the week. If only he called me and could have yelled at me to do so. I swear I would have. But he couldn’t. I can regret my own blindness and self centeredness. I suppose I will to various degrees forever.
I remember suffering from a moderate to severe bipolar depression for over a year. I ended up resorting to ECT. My own nephew had had ECT in the past. Both of us, however, did find stability again. But despite, some of us have relapses. We can curse that fact or stay strong and fight the horrible beast until we become well again. Sometimes it requires extreme tolerance and patience beyond belief, but it is worth it.
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