A number of weeks ago I called to action asking fellow bloggers to share their stories with me as part of a collaboration train. I didn’t expect any responses let alone the amount of interest I received, and I am truly grateful that so many of my followers are willing to share their stories and talent with me.
If you have a story you would like to share in regards to mental health, self-care, wellness, chronic illness, etc please get in contact with me via Twitter, Facebook or email.
This is part of a collaboration with Amy’s Writing Desk. Please take time to visit the original post.
“Dealing with suicidal thoughts is never easy. In fact, it’s outright scary. No. Scratch that. It’s terrifying.
The kaleidoscope of emotions and thoughts centering around suicidal tendencies vary but all can lead to the one act. Understanding where these thoughts come from can prevent suicide.
There are large differences between intrusive and intentional suicidal thought processes. Both are going to be explained in detail so it helps you navigate these draining, maleficent thoughts and get the support you need.
Intrusive Suicidal Thoughts
Intrusive suicidal thoughts are hard to detect in some cases because they are as subtle as a silhouette against the dark. However, when you are equipped with the knowledge to detect them, it becomes so much easier to know what they are and how they occur and moreover, how to act to their occurrence.
People who have conditions such as Major Depressive Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (to name but a few) are more likely to commit suicide “out of the blue” than those who don’t have the aforementioned illnesses.
This happens because they are acting on an impulse thought. Intrusive suicidal thoughts occur randomly and are not provoked by the current emotional or environmental state. Additionally, intrusive suicidal thoughts lack motivated intention.
For clarity, you could be on holiday and be fully enjoying yourself with no symptoms of mental illness when you suddenly consider committing suicide. You don’t know why you just thought this, where the thought came from or what inspired it. It lacks motivation, but there it is. Therefore, you have no intention of committing suicide, yet the thoughts are there. This is an intrusive thought, an interruption.
Intrusive thoughts are caused by abrupt changes in neurotransmissions and the causes behind this are numerous.
Whether it is caused by uncommon emotional responses to external stimuli in yourself or a change in medication, there is only one way to detect the cause of intrusive suicidal thoughts and that’s by analysing your current emotional state to the previous month, your diet (have you been eating differently in any way, no matter how insignificant?) and the environment. It is also not uncommon for the underlying effects of medication changes to cause intrusive thoughts. Your body is adapted to taking one medication and then it changes. This, too, means things are changing within your body, more particularly your neurotransmitters and this influences – to some degree – your psychology.
The way to address intrusive thoughts is to register them as just that: intrusive. You have no desire to kill yourself. You lack intention. When there is no intention there, there is no intent to act on the thoughts.
The second step you must take is to tell your nearest and dearest as well as your doctor that you are having intrusive suicidal thoughts and you don’t know why. The reason for this is because intrusive suicidal thoughts, especially in people suffering any form of depression, can turn intentional quite quickly. This is what makes intrusive thoughts dangerous.
The third step you must take is to record what medication you are taking and when. Following that, you must record the time and date of the occurrences of the intrusions so you can monitor it with your support network. This is a better way of getting to the bottom of their origin other than impractical guesswork.
Because intrusive thoughts can transform into intentional, it is very important that you talk to someone about them. Do not hold back. Like the causes of intrusive thoughts, the transformation of intrusion to intentional can vary, but with mental illnesses, the changes or regulations going on in our bodies are a factor. Some things to take into consideration are social changes, current stress-receptor levels, and medication. Even undiscovered physical illnesses can contribute to intrusive thoughts.
All these things influence the way your neurotransmitters behave and if such changes are occurring, especially where medication is concerned, it is a sign that something needs to be acted upon.
Intentional Suicidal Thoughts
Intentional suicidal thoughts are when you have the intent to carry out suicide. Speaking plain, you want to kill yourself.
Majority of intentional suicidal thoughts originate from sociological factors, though not all the time. As specified above, it can be caused by long-term or persistent symptoms of mental illness. Worse still, it can be a combination of the two.
Sometimes we hit a rock in our lives where we get sacked or bullied, divorced or break up, homeless or addicted. These create the snowball effects where everything keeps rolling downhill until we crash. These situations are the origin of intentional suicidal thoughts. Sometimes they can be coupled with mental illnesses or mental illnesses can, unfortunately, cause them.
The key thing is to find solace in someone who can help you through the dark stage in your life, whether it be a Samaritan or a stranger. Someone who will support you in making plans to get out of the dark stage. The focal point of intentional suicide acts is people who commit them can’t see a way past their grievance and they want it to end.
This is where structured support planning is required the most; ways to help people cope and move past or on from the darkness that engulfs them. People with intentional suicidal thoughts need guidance, not abandonment or judgment. Doing so can lead to a further decline in their emotional and mental wellbeing.
Intentional suicidal thoughts can be acted upon at any moment and to counter the chances of a person committing suicide, actions are required immediately to prevent it.
Actions to consider are immediate medical consultation (preferably A&E over GPs), 24-hour surveillance until the symptoms desist, talking about the origins of the suicidal thoughts and strategy planning to move past the internal and external conflicts causing the symptoms.
Additionally, these things need to come from family and friends. If a person doesn’t have these things (and not everyone does), they need an even more resolute support system in place which may include hospitalisation.”
Never keep suicidal thoughts to yourself, whether you have the intent to commit suicide or not. You are in a time of need and not a burden on anyone.
Thank you for sharing such intimate thoughts.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment 😀
This is so helpful in understanding the way suicidal thoughts work and how to help someone dealing with them. Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Your support is appreciated.
Thank you for breaking this down. I feel like there are so many misconceptions when it comes to suicidal thoughts and what that really means.
Thank you for your support Britt. It means so much. x
This is such an important topic to cover; there is definitely a lot of confusion surrounding the differences and I think most people will deal with it whether it be in their own lives or with a loved one, so there needs to be more of an understanding. Thank you for covering this!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment x
I have an friend who recently tried to commit suicide, it’s so important to find support and check up on those you’re close to. This was such an interesting post!
I really appreciate you stopping by and showing your support 🙂
This is such an important topic to be discussing openly and done so in a wonderfully informative and non patronising manner. I think we all need to be kinder and more open to the next person and understand that we simply do not know what another is going through, and that simply having a greater compassion, awareness and understanding can make a big difference to someone. Thanks for a very informative post.
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. Your support means so much. x
I think you should name it living with suicidal thoughts because each one of you brave incredibly magnificent woman who shared their stories are still alive and I’m so grateful because your words are beautiful and your hearts are strong. Thank you doesn’t feel big enough.. Keep living 🙏🙏💜💜
This was such an important read for me! Thank you for sharing this
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment xx
Thank you so much for your words Crystal – you are a gem xx
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Thank you for stopping by 🙂
This blog post is very helpful with giving an insight about next steps to deal with suicidal thoughts. Sometimes, suicide happens when we least expected from a person. I didn’t know that there are different types of suicidal thoughts. Thank you for sharing this wealth of information.
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
Thank you so much for stopping by. It’s a morbid topic, but one that needs to be addressed and dealt with more often.
This is a really informative post and it’s good to know and learn the difference between the two as they’re very different. I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder, it’s bloody tough and I have noticed over the years only since after being diagnosed that on a bad day or in a bad moment I’ll have a completely out of the blue thought like “I wonder what would happen if I just went in the kitchen and..” you know, I won’t finish the sentence but you know what I mean. I don’t have any intention which is important to understand the difference x
I’ve not only experienced the loss of someone from suicide, I’ve researched and written about it myself. Many articles upset me because of the tone, lack of understanding, and many other things. Yours is the opposite. It is fantastic! You’ve explained this in such a clear and concise way, that is easy to understand. Thank you so much for bringing more attention to the issue of suicide and keeping it in the spotlight even more. I appreciate it!
I have never felt this way myself, but great information to read and I hope it helps lots of others. Thank you for the wonderful post.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting 🙂
As others have said, thank you for sharing this. I think it’s helpful to think about the distinction whether you are the person suffering or the person helping – and this post makes good suggestions on how to handle both intrusive and intentional thoughts (as a sufferer/helper). <3
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and show your support. It means so much.
xx
I haven’t seen anyone else go over the differences in intentional vs intrusive suicidal thoughts on here, but I think it’s something that needs talking about as I believe most people assume suicide to be purely intentional. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on such a sombre but important topic!
I applaud you for all your posts. They are so eye opening and helpful. Thank you for sharing so muh with us and I am sure tou have helped many others.
Alyssa
THESACREDSPACEAP.COM
Thank you so much for your kind words pet <3
This was an interesting but great topic to discuss, I’ve never known that there were two different types so I learned a bit from that piece of information. Thank you for sharing this! 🙂
Thank you so much for stopping by and showing your support. x
You’re very welcome! 🙂
Such an informative write up!! This generation really needs more awareness about the consequences!!
I’d never heard of the intrusive thoughts thing before and I was reading it and that it’s what causes the sudden out of the blue suicides and I had no idea that other people had this!
I, in 2014, just days after returning to work after Easter Break, very suddenly made an attempt and I was never able to tell anybody why. I had been fine, I’d thought I was thriving and then I broke out of the blue after 4 years of managing without any mental health service intervention.
I kept telling the psych liaison, the crisis team, the CMHT that I didn’t know why, it was just a sudden being “done” and they kept insisting that I must be hiding something, that I must have been hiding the degradation of my mental state, that something must have happened that I was refusing to talk about.
And seeing this validation that it can just happen out of the blue and that there is even a name for it actually has me crying because I have doubted and questioned myself for years.
Thank you for writing this <3
Amy really has written a wonderful peace here and I can’t thank her enough for contributing!
Thank you so, so much for stopping by and sharing your story girl! You are so incredibly brave. x
When I was on citilopram (sp) for my mania, aka manic thoughts, I found these antidepressants actually caused me to have a lot of suicidal thoughts. Thankfully I came off those tablets, and it improved my thinking.
I can’t imagine how imprisoning it is to have these thoughts all the time, and not from a cause like me that can be easily corrected. I commend you for bringing up topics like this, that should be spoken about a lot more
I find that a lot of medication I have been on for depression and anxiety has actually caused my feelings of suicide to increase. Now I have been passively suicidal for years, on and off (largely on), but they were 100% active thoughts! But I was assured that this was normal for the first few weeks. I was lucky that after that initial breaking in period my mood stabilized, but it’s a terrible way to live!
I’m so glad you found you stabilized after the breaking in period. I find it crazy that these meds can and do increase these feelings. Even more recently the medication I was given for my mobility issues, made me fall over, makes you wonder what they are giving us at times. Sending you much love xx
This was really informative and I think it is so important that everyone learns about this. Thank you so much for sharing this post.
Thank you so much for stopping by 🙂 Your support means so much.
This is a fantastic post dealing with an issue that needs to be talked about. I’ll share it!
Thank you!