How to talk to someone who is suicidal

0:00 so something that I get asked a lot is how do you talk to someone who is suicidal and I will usually relay the information from the National Alliance on Mental Illness as well as conversations with my own therapist on how you can be supportive actively listen and get your loved one help if necessary and look I know a lot of us have been there before and it's scary right like there is this misconception that exists that talking about suicide will increase the chances of a person to act on it but don't worry because that is not true in fact talking about suicide reduces the risk of suicidal ideation and the impulse to act on it when we can give someone who's hurting the space to talk about that hurt it will improve mental health related outcomes and increase the likelihood that the person will seek treatment so

0:47 if you think someone is suicidal you know maybe they're saying things to you like I can't take this anymore or I don't want to be here or I don't see a future the first thing you want to do is start asking questions you want to be direct and you want to get Frank assessment of where they're at are they ideating are they actively suicidal and the way you can do this is you can start off with questions like how are you doing how are you getting by have you ever thought of hurting yourself do you ever think of killing yourself if the answer is yes to any of those start following up previous attempts make future attempts more likely and anyone who's planning or acquiring means for self harm are signs that they may be actively suicidal which is what you want to find out so you can ask questions

1:32 like have you tried to harm yourself before have you ever attempted to take your own life do you have a plan in place also get clarity on what might make you act on these thoughts what holds you back from acting on these thoughts cuz the answers you get are the key to determining what support this person needs if they say that they're lonely and they need connection that gives you a clear picture of how you can actually help now once you've done this assessment of where they're at find out how they're getting emotional support if at all do they have a therapist would they consider going to therapy if they ever have a plan to hurt themselves can we go to the hospital together will you call me in case that happens now people who have died from suicide have often told someone about not wanting to live

2:18 anymore so it's important that we have the tools to talk about this with our friends and family suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States there is one every 11 minutes the number of people who think about committing suicide or attempt it is even higher so when people talk to me and I can tell the suicidal ideation is really bad or that they're actively suicidal I will often ask do you have access to weapons that can be used to harm yourself this is especially important because one of the only proven ways to prevent suicide is to remove access to methods so if someone is ideating and owns a firearm taking precautions to remove that firearm for the duration of these thoughts can make a huge difference in their outcome like

3:03 literally life and death the act of suicide is often an attempt to control deep painful emotions and thoughts that someone's experiencing but once those thoughts dissipate so will the suicidal ideation while Suicidal Thoughts can return they're not necessarily permanent or even a sign of a mental illness and look I know it can be really scary when someone comes to you with suicidal ideation but once you know how to handle it once you have the tools it's really not that hard to just show up actively listen and help the person you love and once you have all that in place it's so much less scary and you know how to be there and potentially save lives I'm Anna aana thank you to better help for sponsoring today's video if you're struggling with your mental health relationship patterns or even just being

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4:36 used better help to start living a healthier happier life click the link in the description or visit betterhelp.com aana and get 10% off your first month bye