Suicide Warning Signs

If you are worried that someone you know is suicidal, you may have to probe to get the person to open up. “I can tell something is bothering you. You don’t seem to be yourself”.  Speak with concern in your voice, keep eye contact with the person, and don’t be judgmental.

These indications of crisis can reveal someone is in a state of severe depression or someone is in a depressive manic state. The ultimate and terminal expression of depression is suicide. A combination of any of these warning signs increases the chances that the person whom you are observing is suicidal. 

• Worthless feelings — "I'll always be a loser."
• Access to means — firearms, rope, medications
• Reckless, risky behavior — cutting & driving dangerously
• Noticeable anxiety, anger — "No one ever listens to me!"
• Impulsive actions
• No hope — "My life is going nowhere."
• Great mood swings — happy-to-sad, but also sad-to-happy
• Substance abuse, or change in abusive habits
• Isolation and withdrawal — from friends, family clubs
• Giving away valued possessions — "I won't need these."
• Never going to see me again — life-ending language
• Suicidal Ideation — thoughts, expressions of death