Suicide Prevention Quotes

[Daniel E.]

"When people are suicidal, their thinking is paralyzed, their options appear spare or nonexistent, their mood is despairing, and hopelessness permeates their entire mental domain. The future cannot be separated from the present, and the present is painful beyond solace."

“Disconcertingly, one of the highest-risk periods for suicide is when patients are actually recovering from depression.”

― Kay Redfield Jamison, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide

 

[Daniel E.]

"To anyone out there who’s hurting—it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help. It’s a sign of strength."

– Barack Obama

 

[Daniel E.]

“Everything used to seem to final, inevitable, predestined. But now, I'm starting to believe that life may have more surprises in store than I ever realized.”

"Life can seem awful and unfixable until the universe shifts a little and the observation point is altered, and then suddenly, everything seems more bearable."

“Maybe all anyone ever needs is for someone to notice them, to observe them.”

― Jasmine Warga, My Heart and Other Black Holes

 

[Daniel E.]

“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

 

[Daniel E.]

"For people who think there’s nothing to live for, nothing more to expect from life … the question is getting these people to realise that life is still expecting something from them."

~ Victor Frankl

 

[Daniel E.]

Depression is not a perspective. It is a disease. Resisting that claim, we may ask: Seeing cruelty, suffering and death -- shouldn't a person be depressed? There are circumstances, like the Holocaust, in which depression might seem justified for every victim or observer. Awareness of the ubiquity of horror is the modern condition, our condition.

But then, depression is not universal, even in terrible times. Though prone to mood disorder, the great Italian writer Primo Levi was not depressed in his months at Auschwitz. I have treated a handful of patients who survived horrors arising from war or political repression. They came to depression years after enduring extreme privation. Typically, such a person will say: ''I don't understand it. I went through -- '' and here he will name one of the shameful events of our time. ''I lived through that, and in all those months, I never felt this.'' This refers to the relentless bleakness of depression, the self as hollow shell. To see the worst things a person can see is one experience; to suffer mood disorder is another. It is depression -- and not resistance to it or recovery from it -- that diminishes the self.

Beset by great evil, a person can be wise, observant and disillusioned and yet not depressed. Resilience confers its own measure of insight. We should have no trouble admiring what we do admire -- depth, complexity, aesthetic brilliance -- and standing foursquare against depression.

~ Peter Kramer

 

[Daniel E.]

It took me a long time to grasp the dialectic inherent in planning a suicide or engaging in self-harm. Both make you feel better, and both make you feel worse. Both sides are true. When I can't get an agreement from a client to stay alive forever, then I try for a certain amount of time. If she's giving me a week, I try for two, and keep going until I am stopped. If I can't get an agreement, I search for a synthesis: "If we can find a way to get your life to be experienced as worth living, would you be willing to work on finding that?" Almost all say yes...

The therapist must be able to speak for both sides: “You are miserable and want to die; I can understand how you feel, how painful your life is at times, and how hard it is to stay alive. On the other hand, I can also imagine the tragedy of your dying by suicide. I know you often think no one cares, but I am pretty sure you know that I care, that your cat cares, and, if you really think about it, that your parent cares. I totally believe that you can build a life that you will view as worth living. Even in your tears, you have to believe, let go of disbelief, and hold on to hope.”

~ Marsha Linehan

 

[Daniel E.]

"If you're in the throes of nihilistic thinking, remember: You're upset because you care. And as long as you care about fear, you have the capacity to care about other things, too. Give it time...and you'll find that life is meaningful, after all -- just, perhaps, not in the ways you expect it to be."

~ Avery Rogers

 

[Daniel E.]

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

— Martin Luther King Jr.

 

[Daniel E.]

“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

— William James

 

[Daniel E.]

“For fast acting relief, try slowing down.”

— Lily Tomlin

 

[Daniel E.]

"You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody."

— Maya Angelou

(quoted in Perfectly Imperfect: How to Embrace Your Insecurities)

 

[Daniel E.]

"Do you have doubts about life? Are you unsure if it's worth the trouble? Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person's face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing. Stand up and face the east. Now praise the sky and praise the light within each person under the sky. It's okay to be unsure. But praise, praise, praise."

― Miranda July, No One Belongs Here More Than You

 

[Daniel E.]

It’s OK Not To Be OK -- SuicidePreventionLifeline.org

Sometimes it feels like society says you should be always happy, and that showing your sadness is a sign of weakness. This is far from true ― if you were to hold in all your sadness or anger you would explode. We all have good and bad days. No one can be perfectly happy all of the time, that is not human. One day you feel on top of the world, the next you are down. While I am still trying to accept this myself, I know that it is part of life and whether or not others choose to show it, it still happens.

For those who are struggling with mental illness and/or grief, dealing with this pressure to always seem happy can be even more challenging, as a lot of days are low. Sometimes when we are feeling down, we put on a mask to hide the darkness that lies behind the smile. Getting out of bed can be a major task by itself. With depression at times there is no apparent reason for why you are feeling this way. When it feels as though a cloud is hanging over our heads, those are the days we push people away the most. We do this because it is easier to try and forget about what is going on and not bother others with our problems. But getting through your problems and ignoring your problems are two completely different things.

Whether that is talking to someone about what is going on, finding answers to what is causing that emotion, or using coping skills such as drawing, yoga, mindfulness, and so many other healthy ideas, there are ways to help you get through the bad days. It’s okay to feel down...

The journey of life is filled with ups and downs, which is what shapes us into the people we are. When you’re having a bad day or a good day, remember that people do care about you, you are here for a reason, and the world would not be the same without you.

 

[Daniel E.]

"Most of the patients that I’ve worked with who are chronically suicidal will say there are times where their suicidal thoughts and feelings or actions reach a point that just feels unbearable, but that’s not 24/7. In most moments, they are engaging in hope, they are delaying themselves, they’re distracting."

~ Natalie Burns, licensed clinical social worker

 

[Daniel E.]

"I must try, even when my brain insists I shouldn’t, to have compassion for myself."

~ Sonali Beaven

 

[Daniel E.]

"Suicide prevention involves much more than increasing the availability of therapists and prescriptions. It requires providing economic development and financial assistance to those in distress. People can help by strengthening communities and building social ties. Additionally, they can provide moral support, alternative means of conflict resolution and escape routes from abusive relationships."

~ Jason Manning, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University

 

[Daniel E.]

"Belongingness—feeling accepted by others—is believed to be a fundamental need, something that is essential for an individual's psychological health and well-being. Increased social connectedness—a construct related to belongingness—has been shown to lower risk for suicide."

~ Wikipedia

 

[Daniel E.]

"A good quality of life was characterised by the feeling of being in control (particularly of distressing symptoms), autonomy and choice; a positive self-image; a sense of belonging; engagement in meaningful and enjoyable activities; and feelings of hope and optimism."

~ Connell et al, Quality of life of people with mental health problems

 

[Daniel E.]

"The strategic psychotherapist is not interested in discovering why a problem exists, but how it is maintained in the present, promoting therapeutic change by applying specific intervention strategies."

~ Brief strategic therapy for OCD