Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

Death By Suicide

Individuals dying from suicide have not committed a crime, the vast majority of them have been diagnosed or suspected of having some sort of mental illness. Some individuals committing suicide have even been seeing a therapist and have been on medicine. Those who decide to die by suicide may do so because of a temporary situation or because of an event that has caused great sadness. There are many ways in which a person may attempt to die by suicide including the use of firearms, knives, strangulation, jumping off of a bridge or a high building or using a vehicle to run off a road or even into the path of another vehicle. The intent is to end a life that they feel is not worth living.

Death by suicide occurs in young children, teens, men, women, the elderly, all races, religions and sexual preferences. Suicide is an equal opportunity cause of death. There are many reasons why death seems to be the only alternative for individuals who attempt or succeed at it.

Just like symptoms of a disease that may cause death; suicide also has symptoms or signs of a possible impending death. The number one cause of death by suicide is untreated depression. Other symptoms that someone may be considering suicide are: someone who feels chronically hopeless or sad, withdraws from family and friends, sleeps more than is normal for age, feeling tired most of the time, has a significant weight loss or gain, and also someone who makes the following statements:

"I hate my life", "Life is not worth living", "Nothing matters to me anymore", "There is no point to my life", "I do not care about anything or anyone anymore". Direct statements like "I want to die", or mention of wondering how a person might be able to kill him or herself are all red flags that the person may be thinking about killing him/herself.

Other signs that there may be trouble regarding suicide is when the person writes songs, notes, poems or stories about suicide, does not have interest in activities that previously involved him/her, starts giving away all of his/her possessions, or writing a will, feelings of excessive guilt or shame, talks or writes as if preoccupied with death and dying. Someone who constantly complains of headaches or stomache aches may be feeling suicidal. Definitely someone who has a dramatic change in personality, personal appearance, or performance at school or work may be someone having thoughts of suicide.

There are also individuals who commit suicide with no seemingly signs of suicide because they hide their feelings of depression due to social stigma or because of mental illness. Men especially feel that if they admit to how sad or depressed they are feeling they will be perceived by others to be weak. They learn to hide their feelings.

When someone exhibits signs that they may be thinking about what it would be like to die by suicide, now is the time to take action, not later when the chance to investigate may seem more appealing. Tomorrow may be too late.

Anyone who exhibits suicidal signs or talks about suicide should always be taken seriously no matter how many times these things occur.