Bipolar Disorder Support Group

1. we don't all reach out hence the statistics

book called "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide" by Kay Redfield Jamison might help clue him in, if he's serious

I think we seek help because we don't really want to die, we just want the pain to end. IMO your husband asked a very good question that I don't really know the answer to. I know the times I have been truly suicidal, I always attempted it. Luckily, I was never successful, but I have had some very serious attempts during my short life. I guess I don't have a clue about the answer to this question. Sorry. Maybe someone else will have a better reply.

He was dead serious. Like I said I was shocked.

pain is like giving birth it rolls at you in waves when able to think slightly straight you call out at those times you need to be heard because with the next wave of pain you don't know if its going to be the one to take you

Suicidal ideation precludes suicide attempt. Thank God, for whatever reason, many of us have learned that this suicidal ideation is a warning sign and we reach out for help before we cross the threshold of no return.

I was very sure I would succeed with my last attempt. I planned how and wrote the letters. I would have succeeded if I had not had a revelation at the very last second. The revelation was not that I did not want to die, it was spiritual intervention for me. I cant even remember dialing my docs number or getting in my sons car to go to the hospital. I only remember being admitted.

I think it is important that he understand there is a very fine line between ideation and actual suicide. Some of us are not fortunate enough not to cross that line. That is why it is so important to have the support that we have and people who care for us and can recognize these signs.

xo

great reply, Shelly!

Thanks Shelly that really helps. I also have another suicide question. How do you go about telling people your suicidal. I've been suicidal while my husband was on a business trip and he wanted me to go to his folks and tell them what was going on. The thing is they're avid Christians and I think I would just get a lecture. How do you explain it in a way that you won't get lectured. When I'm like that I just need people to watch me and make sure I don't do anything stupid. We don't have money for me to go to the hospital. So me getting over this hump and actually talking to his parents about it is really important. Any ideas about having that kind of talk with somebody.

hey M -when you say "avid" christians, do you mean that they are evangelical, or fundementalist, or what? i am catholic, & while the church defintely considers suicide to be a sin, and believes that it damns one from the afterlife (whatever THAT is...) - the whole essence of the teaching is one of compassion & forgiveness, and specifically care & compassion for the broken & downtrodden & oppressed. i realize this is not always so in other denominations, where poverty is reviled or seen as a sign of something, & where wealth is lauded. but in the catholic church there is a saying "one can only genuinely feel God's love with a broken & contrite heart" - given this, i would think a true christian would have most compassion for someone contemplating their own demise - staring into the abyss. a lecture does not prevent one from jumping - but a meaningful & understanding embrace does.

In my experience beepers are only TOO aware of the havoc they wreak on other people lives. We dont want to be this way but we just are. I think this is one of the main reasons we go for help. Deep down we dont want to cause the pain and distress sucide can bring to those left behind. Most beepers can be viewed as selfish but in reality we are not or dont want to be . That is often why we go for help , that and the fact that we do have basic survival instincts despite being ill. I think you wont avoid a lecture from Christians because you are knowingly comtemplating a huge sin. You need to explain that you are ill not a sinner. You can no more help this than if you had say lupus or Alzheimers. The only sin is NOT getting the help you need