Nearly every day, I imagine the many ways in which I could die. Or I list off, in my head, the reasons why I should be dead.
Every. Day.
I’m afraid to call it by its name—suicidal ideation—because it doesn’t feel that intense. I wish I were dead. I don’t want to kill myself. I assure my therapist I’m not a danger to myself or others. It’s passive, not aggressive, see?
Sometimes it’s that normal, run-of-the-mill depression speaking up. Other times it’s sparked by some inconvenience, be it major or minor.
When plans are too difficult to coordinate. When I miss my exit. When I snort-laugh loudly in a meeting. When I make a joke that doesn’t land well. When I accidentally delete all of my files and empty the trash and regrettably find out I didn’t back up said files.
“I wish I were dead.”
“If I were dead, I wouldn’t have to deal with this.”
“I’m just gonna go jump off the roof now, bye!”
These thoughts have invaded my consciousness as far back as I can remember. I recall being a kid and lying in the grass, looking at the shape-shifting clouds, wondering why humans even existed. Why I even existed.
I’m working on figuring out the triggers. On noticing the signs. My depression is very predictable and arrives at the same time each year. I know that in July and August I need to take better care of myself.
Other warning signs: Staying indoors as much as possible. Taking couch naps. Listening exclusively to Lana Del Rey and Elliott Smith. Forgetting to read. Procrastinating showers—for days.
Step back. Sit down. Breathe.
The dark thoughts are coming. We can fight them off.
Take a breath. Watch your body and notice your thoughts. Find patterns. Give yourself a time out and work on some serious self-care. Tell someone you’re in a dark place simply so they know and can check on you later. Turn off your phone. Cook a meal (a real meal) for yourself. Go for a walk. Pet your cat.
Don’t burrow deep under the covers and wait for it to leave. You have to fight back. Then it will pass. It always does.
These thoughts happen. Life is hard. Mental illness is harder. Sometimes a bunch of tiny inconveniences pile up all at once and it’s all too much and death seems like the only option.
But it’s not.
Just getting these words out is challenging. There’s a stigma that surrounds suicidal ideation when there shouldn’t be. We’re living in a time where mental illness is increasingly discussed, yet suicidal thoughts remain in the rarely mentioned depths.
And I can’t be the only one who thinks this way, on a near-daily basis. Right?
We can work on this together. We can stop using suicide as a punchline or a solution. We can save a life or two or three.
Allie
You’re not the only one!!
Katze
So that’s what it’s called.
No, you are not the only one.
But as long as it’s passive it’s ok, right? How often does passive ideation really turn into action?
Debbie
I understand completely. I have been having these feelings for about 35 years. It started in H.S. Many years and many doctors I have finally found Trintellix, it has helped reduce the feelings. They are not so constant. My family and children are the only reasons I never carried any thoughts through.. Good luck, keep fighting.
Lisa
My suicidal ideation is also passive. I think about just turning the wheel on a high-speed highway. What stops me is the thoughts that I don’t want to hurt anyone else and pain. I want a painless death. I want to go to sleep and not wake up.
I have received some professional help with this bit it’s kind of a relief to read of others with similar ideation. The stigma is real.
I’m okay right Now, but the thoughts are always there, in the back of my mind.
Barbara
I have battle the suicidal thoughts nearly every day, for nearly 50 years. I was actually going to post something to this effect, when this came across my feed. It’s real thoughts. I can, and do, get past them. But just reading this article let’s me know, that there are other people who go through this……..
Susie Higham
I was so ‘happy’ to read this post, because it could easily have been written by me. It’s so, so good to know that I’m not alone in my strange head space! Thank you for sharing.
Ronnie
Same here it’s good to know that I’m not alone keep fighting and as long as it’s passive it’s okay, right?
Nicole
I honestly feel like someone fully understands me completely. This is article could have been written by me. This explains so much what I go through and what I feel. You are not alone in how you feel!
Brittany
Wow. I never knew what it was called; I never knew someone else felt this way too. Thank you. ♥️
Azalya
Hi Ashley, I have been feeling the same way since I was about 12, ( I’m 15 now) and I always thought that I was the only one who felt this way. Thank you for letting me know I’m not alone in my thoughts
Anita
I hear you. One more day… always maybe tomorrow. Then… maybe tomorrow again. Tomorrow may be better. If it’s not…well, one more day. Maybe tomorrow.
Lauren
I have never read something that so accurately describes this. Thank you for writing this. 💜
Andrea F
Hi Ashley. I myself too struggle with the passive suicide ideation. The thoughts are intrusive as loud screams and persistent. Thank you for sharing your story. I just want you to know that you are not alone in this. I continue to remind myself when I can that it’s just the depression talking & the depression is only a part of me.
Patience
TWLOHA has saved my life on more than one occasion and now I know that reading others’ stories that I can truly relate with is in fact a coping skill. This helped me more than I’d admit anywhere else. Thank you.
Kelli
Thank you so much for posting this. This day has been particularly tough… but for reasons that shouldn’t send me into a tailspin but they are. I needed to know that I’m not alone.
Denise
Well said. Thank you for sharing.
Kathleen Hussey
I’m almost 59 years old now and since I was 10 to 11 years old, around 1971, I’ve dealt with intrusive thoughts about self harm and with having the far too automatic answer to any real emotional pain (whether from disappointment, rejection, loneliness, heartache, betrayal or financial devastation) be the totally unnatural instinct to self destruct and annihilate my own self when I’d never feel such destructive feelings towards those who may have hurt me.
I didn’t know what to do or how to even begin to learn how to handle or cope with the pain that would hit me so viciously. It always feels (in those minutes, hours, days) as if I won’t EVER feel all right again, even though my logical brain knows that all things end eventually, good and bad things I feel as a matter of the nature of life. Still,in those moments it feels like it won’t ever stop , go away, leave my heart and I feel then that I simply can NOT take anymore pain.
Finally (in my 30’s & 40’s) I realized that when I’d felt pain & abandonment as a child no one had ever much comforted me. No one patted my back, hugged me or offered me a few encouraging words to get me through those tough life events to the next day. We all go through so many ups and downs and resiliency is learned, modeled, copied.. but if most the adults you learn from run away from ever showing you that they feel emotional pain and how they healthily cope with it, if they also don’t seem to want to see your feelings expressed or you don’t feel free to, how will you learn how to moderate your own emotions? If all you see from them is how they numb themselves & escape feeling things by using alcohol, drugs, overeating, shopping, gambling etc. then you may not learn how to cope with the ups and downs of life very well. I never learned to calm myself down, never developed that inner monologue of a caring parent to talk myself down with and we all need to be able to take over that job for ourselves when our parents roles must, of necessity, end one day.
I realized I had no problem knowing how to be kind to my own children by comforting them when they scraped a knee or had their heart broken as teenagers. I knew I should & I could do that for them even though I don’t know how I learned it unless it was via my 6 sisters or examples that nannies / caretakers likely set in small doses for we 7 girls. We had a few of those as kids as well as one roughly 6 mo. stay in an orphanage when I was 4. All were due to my Mom’s mental hospital stays required because of the severe mania or catatonic episodes she suffered with, being diagnosed as Bipolar in her 20’s.
Teenagers especially deal with so much newly intense pain because along with the expected surges in hormones that a preteen and teenager suddenly must deal with there comes swinging moods while also the intensity of their feelings increases. They usually don’t understand WHY their emotions are so intense or why moods get harder to snap out of. The advent of a menstrual cycle for women, and testosterone surging in young men makes it a hairy (no pun intended lol) time for all teenagers. Yet for those who haven’t yet learned to self soothe & to comfort themselves, they feel out of control and helpless to stop the pain. They feel victimized by their own minds and hearts and unable to get through those days.
I believe if we greatly increase the spreading of knowledge on the subject of suicidal ideation and teen emotional overload, teaching all preteens how to meditate, to clear their minds regularly, how to use pre planned tactics to get through these times, such as ; having a few good friends or relatives phone numbers they’ve discussed ahead of time with them and they agree that if the teen, young adult calls at any time and says a key word they’ve established then that person will come to be with the person needing them to check on them, make sure they are eating, drinking water, sleeping, taking meds, giving assistance with any real needs or simply a loving ear to hear them, hugs, helping them remember the list of possible plans they’ve established beforehand that they’d use for these rough days. Self comfort, self caring items on a list can be ; lots of rest, getting snuggled up under the covers, watching or reading something happy, inspiring, motivating or encouraging, listening to happy music, dancing, light exercises,yoga, spend time doing hobbies you really enjoy, go for a hike in nature, journaling, take walks, hot baths… anything you know feeds your joy or comfort meter. If we also teach them the importance of loving this one you that you have got, how to be as kind to themselves as they’d easily be to another, not talking down to or bad about themselves, being as forgiving of their own errors, their own humanity (while learning from those experiences) as easily as they will forgive others for theirs, accepting the truth that a bad day does not equal a bad life. Believing in the truth that we do not need to seek to silence our feelings but instead to accept them and really try to listen to them because they are telling us core truth about ourselves that we need to hear and address….all of this can help them become more resilient and change how they experience pain and give them more feeling of being in control of themselves when dealing with the downs of life.
Cheyenne
I’m right there with you, love. Breathe, and love yourself a little bit more every day.
xoxo
Kimberly
Sad is all you ever feel
Tom
I agree so much with everyone here. I struggled deeply this Summer after my divorce and job loss and the new sobriety I chose for my children after. That was a very rough 6 months. It still isn’t great, which is how I found my way here. I was originally directed to this site by the suicide hotline I called when I couldn’t stop the relentless cycling of suicide as the only relief I could imagine to end my ruminating on things I wish I had changed or done differently. What a relief!!
What happened this Summer made a huge difference to me. After confessing my frequent suicidal thoughts, my therapist stepped me up to weekly sessions. In desperation, I went home that weekend and binged on Ted Talks about suicide. When I found people talking about the regular suicidal thought without intending to act on them called Suicidal Ideation and that this was different from thinking about suicide with an intent to act, I was so relieved that I felt the exact same relief that many people here describe. I was so excited to understand that I was ideating, and when I explained this to my therapist at my next session I could see that she was tremendously relieved too. I got moved back to biweekly sessions immediately.
Below is a link to one of the best talks that I found. I like it as much as the WHO Black Dog video. I hope that this talk helps anyone who would like to know more about depression and ideation to gain some more insight on the topic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n9u-TITxwoM
Thank you so much for this wonderful blog post!!
Andy Voss
I like this but now I am wondering most sincerely who uses suicidal ideation as a punchline? My best friend killed himself 3 years ago and that put some thoughts on my path can’t seem to shake, maybe it’s one of those things once you get it you’ve got it and I’m just always going to have to deal with it, I don’t know. I came here accidentally BTW looking for market capitalization for Twilio company whose stock symbol is TWLO. I said twlo to Google, and Google brought me here LOL. I am a Googletarian, when I generally am in tough times I pray to Google Google answers me. So… Perhaps this was divine guidance. But thank you for writing this I felt a bit less alone reading it.
AJ
For years I use to think about ways to kill myself without anyone knowing that I killed myself. Through some amazing counseling and medicine, it’s been years (Over 20) since those days. It was only when I was well how I realized how great this life really is. My son and daughter have those struggles now but are aware and seek help when they need too. I am grateful that this subject is not the taboo subject it was all those years ago and my children are not afraid to talk about it. It is one of the good things of social media. I wish you wellness, healing and health.
Sean bell
I lost my father to suicide when i was 7 yrs old. I just turned 50. I know that people who are contemplating suicide often get it in thier head that their kids or wife or whoever will be better off without them. What a crock of shit. People who are thinking about suicide dont think about the hell the person who finds them goes thru .As someone who found my best friends brother i know firsthand . It sucks.
To all who read this. Ypu are beautiful, you are important, you matter, you are enough! Please seek help if you feel the urge to end your life. You are loved more then you know.
Amanda
The past few weeks I feel like I have been struggling to keep my head above water. This week has been the hardest. I’ve been experiencing all of what you said since middle school, for 19 years I’ve dealt with this but never knew what it was or what I could do about it. But now I feel like I breathe easier, even though its just a tiny bit. I feel like I can go to a therapist now and say this is what’s happening, instead of just giving vague explanations of feelings I have trouble describing with words. I really, really, really needed this. Thank you!
Brigitte
It was nice reading that there are other people out there woh struggle with emotions and life. I find it helpful knowing not everyone is perfectly happy and there are those of us who do need a little TLC once in a while to get us through the day. It is not even such a negative thing anymore to tell someone I need…a hug. Or I need a little help and need to talk. It is what humans are there for. We are here to help and to learn to love one another. If life were so easy, then perhaps we would not ever have been placed here to figure this all out. I guess that is where my mind is right now. Thanks for sharing. I am not alone and it is a comfort to learn there is someone out there who is not perfect and does not feel every day is great and happy. I leave room for sunshine and happy moments though. Because if i shut the door, no light can ever come inside.
Maddi
I talked about this with my therapist both the passive and intrusive thoughts. It’s hard finding other people to talk about it with because you say something like “I’m so sick of being alive” and everyone reacts like you’re activity planning something. It’s hard to explain the thoughts, if they don’t have them. A space to talk about this is really needed.
Teri
This is definitely how I have been feeling for the last few years…
Patti
Thank you! I needed this today
Diane
I feel this so much. Its like reading something another version of me wrote. There are so many of us.
Florence pilgrim
Clime out of that deep dark hole that keeps trying to swallow you until one day it does and theirs nothing left but darkness
TWLOHA
Florence,
We’re familiar with that climb. But even when all feels lost and there seems to be no fight left, hope finds a way. We hope you’ll reach out to use if you’re struggling to continue. You are not alone and we would be honored to provide you with some support. You can email us at [email protected] any time.
With Hope,
TWLOHA
Katze
I reread this article every few weeks. This is definately the one I identify most with and every time I read it, I’m surprised (again) that I’m not alone. Thank you so much for writing this! You cannot imagine the hope it brings!
JR
I have no immediate plan, but I’m already carving out an “exit strategy.” I know full well that checking out early will mess up my kids at this stage. When they are adults? Then I may find a way to euthanize myself.
TWLOHA
Please stay and reach out for help, JR. Suicide does not have to be the only option. You can choose to stay and find the help and peace you need and deserve. Would you email us at [email protected] so we can learn more about you and offer you some support and encouragement?
With Hope,
TWLOHA
Morrigan. S
I really appreciate this post and all of the comments with it. I am currently struggling with this now and everyday I, at the very least, have the thought that I would be better off dead. That no one really “needs” me here. I have no intention right now because I experienced the reaction of my family after I already tried. I’m scared of being a burden and I feel I already am anyway. Just another mouth to feed and something more to worry about. I makes me want to die. I truly with I were dead and not existing anymore. I’ve tried telling. I’ve tried explaining. It either gets waved off or they say that I just don’t really wish I were dead since I have no plan. It’s so frustrating! I feel trapped here. I feel useless, that I’m a burden. I sometimes toy with the idea of actually acting or planning everything out, to the very song and time. Sometimes I do plan. I know I can’t act though. That may be the problem, and I don’t want a painful death. To anyone that gets out of this abyss- I commend you. I am proud of you. To anyone reading this- I love your existence! You truly matter and so many care! You are amazing in every way and I truly write this in gratitude and from the bottom of my heart. I know and think you to be worthwhile. I may only be 15, but I’m really grateful to actually feel like someone understands what I’m going through. Not just me.
TWLOHA
Morrigan,
We’re so glad you reached out. We’re so glad you’re still here, even though you think about leaving. But please know that there is hope and there are people who can and want to help you through this. You are not a burden, you are not useless. And no matter your age, your feelings are valid. Would you email us at [email protected] so we can connect you to help and also provide you with some support and encouragement? It would be our honor.
You can also reach out to our friends at Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. You’ll be connected for free to a crisis counselor who can help you navigate what you’re going through.
Peace and healing exist and we believe they are both possible for you, Morrigan.
With Hope,
TWLOHA
Alyssa Wood
i can relate to all the people who have written on here. its so relieving to find out that other people are struggling with this, even though for me, my suicidal thoughts are not passive, they are very aggressive. im only 16yrs old but i really struggle with suicidal thoughts every day. i dont want to admit it but i feel as if im never gonna be able to escape the constant thoughts of suicide or self-injuring again. even though im only 16, suicide feels like the answer to my problems, i want to stop feeling unloved from my dad and having my mom treat me like i have a deadly disease since im bi, and the part of feeling even more stupid about yourself and suicidal when you walk out of a counselors office then when you walked in. as relieving as this sight is to read, i dont know how or when i will stop hurting and hurting others and not being heard or feeling like when people are listening, that they really dont care or think you are just saying suicidal crap for attention. i dont know when it will end.
TWLOHA
Hi Alyssa,
We hope you saw our response to your other comment on a different blog. But if you didn’t, please know that we are here for you and we believe you matter. Will you email us at [email protected] so we can send you some encouragement and provide you with some resources to receive the help and support you deserve? You are enough as you are. You are welcome here. We’re so glad you exist, Alyssa.
With Hope,
TWLOHA
Nicole Durant
This is relevant and raw
Gezelle Arrache
I hear this from my husband frequently, not that he contemplates suicide, but that he wishes often he wouldn’t wake up. He has been so active for many years in trying to heal himself from anxiety and depression and it finally feels like he’s had a break thru. I am hopeful for him that he can live without it.
Megan Masterka
🙏
Jennifer H
Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary issue.. things will change if you want them to.
Carine De Lozier
Yeah, I told my sister yesterday, “I would kill myself today if I weren’t convinced that I’d only end up crippled in the attempt and then be resentfully and abusively cared for by one of you people until I die miserably at the age of 72!”
She decided to remain neutral.
I’ve been trying for over a year to get into mental health treatment to no avail. I’ve exhausted all avenues up to and including calling the Oregon Health Authority Governor’s Advocacy Office only to be denied again.
TWLOHA
Carine,
We are so sorry to hear that you are dealing with suicidal thoughts and also struggling to find the help you need and deserve. You are welcome to email us at [email protected] so we can offer you some encouragement and resources. You can also visit our FIND HELP page: twloha.com/find-help. We know it isn’t easy, but there is hope and there is help. You deserve both.
With Hope,
TWLOHA
Leonardo Obadia
Blessed!
Abigail P
I feel this on every level. I too reassure my therapist all the time. Some days are better than others. We got this!
Joanna Marshall
I wholeheartedly can say I’ve been here more times than I care to think. Thank you for sharing.
Stephanie J
Right??!! You are correct. You are not alone in your thinking. Very well put article, thank you for writing it. I like the checklist of what to watch out for when you start feeling that way and what to do while it’s happening.
I’m happy you’re still here and could get this article out for us to read. I think we’re getting there with the help of TWLOHA to fight the stigmas encompassing hard to talk about mental health topics! You’re making a difference I promise.
Rusty
Thank you for sharing. What a beautiful piece you have written. I am grateful to have read it.
You are not alone in l8ving with those thoughts. My best friend does and it is unnerving every time.
As a mental health professional, I understand it.
All of me agrees We MUST reduce the stigma. I sit with it because others do. I am able to hear about it, maybe bear witness in some ways.
Thank you for sharing and advocating!