Impact of Suicide

“For some moments in life there are no words.”
David Seltzer, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Today I read in the news about two young friends who have taken a suicide pact. One of their mothers had spent many months trying to help her son; he had recently been in hospital with his struggles and never found his path back to a good emotional place. This leads one to sit and consider how suicide affects our loved ones. This short Blog/Article looks to hopefully provoke thought about how it affects those affected by suicide…

The act of suicide undoubtedly leaves a devastating effect on those who are left to make sense of it – maybe facing crushing guilt over things that cannot be changed. This is a hard and sometimes long-lasting consequence of suicide.

If you are the loved one left behind, it is a natural reaction to feel some responsibility when they discover that your loved one has lived in such unhappy place that they would take their own life. That’s a heavy burden to carry around, continually mulling over and re-thinking and re-imagining things that you might have done differently had you only known.

What you can do for your loved one who has left this world as we know it is to forgive them - and most importantly, forgive yourself. The human heart is so deep; we can't blame ourselves for what others decide to do, but it is normal to want to.

If you’re going through grief at the moment it useful to remember;

• You're really not going crazy!
• Many others have had to travel this hard road before you. You are not alone.
• Grief is a long-term process, and you will have good days and bad.
• There is hope - brighter days lie ahead for you.
• You will never return to your pre-grief state; however you will eventually find joy in life in new ways that you invent.
• There really is no time frame for mourning.

If you find yourself reading this and feel you or a friend or family member or even that neighbour you have met a few times is at risk of suicide, let someone know.

Consider this: if you were in an accident, your friends/family would rush to help and save you, and right now they would want to help you too.

It is very common to feel disbelief that you are having thoughts of suicide; however, it’s very common when you are have having very stressful times, events or illness in your life. Suicidal thoughts can happen to anyone, feeling suicidal or thought of self-harm can arise from a variety of stresses, emotional reasons, the abuse of drugs or alcohol, or mental illness. Whatever the reason, there is help available, and people on hand who want to help you.

They can and will fade away if you work and fight through these thoughts, talk to friends and family or seek counselling or professional services. Feeling suicidal or thoughts of self-harm can arise from a variety of stresses, emotional reasons, the abuse of drugs or alcohol, or mental illness. Whatever the reason, there is help available, and people on hand who want to help you.