What to do if you are alone and thinking about suicide

What to do if you are alone and thinking about suicide.
Sit down and breathe deeply.

Breathe deeply again and again.

Turn on the lights or open a door or window.

Pick up the phone and call a friend, even if you have to call collect.
Talk to the operator
if you don't have strength to dial the number.

Say your name out loud.

Say your friends' names out loud.

Repeat and combine these names with your name.

... try to reach out to people, to living beings... people, animals, plants. someone will reach back.

lie down and hug your bed or your couch or armchair. even the ground (but preferable not cold marble!). feel the surface sustain you, support you.

Cry, even if it means weeping bitterly. Scream; "God, why am I in such despair? Why
did you do this to me? Tell me why."

Pray. Say: "God, help me. Please give me a reason to live."

Touch yourself. Feel the rapid beating of your heart.

Turn on the television, radio, or stereo.

Close your eyes and think about The Wizard of Oz or chocolate ice cream or giraffes.

Get out a photo album and look at the pictures of your family and friends.

If you have a pet, pick it up and hold it tightly.

When you have the strength, get out from where you are. Go to the movies.
Go to the shopping mall. Go to a neighbor's or a friend's house. If you
are afraid to drive, run as fast as you can for as long as you can.

Get yourself to where there are people.

**********************

Taken from "A Reason to Live" by Melody Beattie
__________________
http://www.suicidehotline.com/

other things:
if you have nervous tension, anger, rage, restlessness, agitation... get the idea... any kind of "dark" energy:

find pillows big little pile em up, spreadem out, or scatter, at your whim. then POUND ON THEM, as hard as you can. keep doing it till you wear yourself out. trust me the pillows will outlast you.

when you are in a bad place, you need to defuse any negative energy quickly, that's one way i know to do it, where you won't feel sorry for broken stuff after.

... try to reach out to people, to living beings... people, animals, plants.
someone will reach back.

lie down and hug your bed or your couch or armchair. even the ground (but preferable not cold marble!). feel the surface sustain you, support you.

Thank You Bizi

I wonder if others could add to this list of things that help them?
bizi

thanks bizi

Hi Love

Don't even think about it!!You come from a beautiful country and am sure you are a beautiful person....just a tad too sentimental......get over it...write back. i'd like to have you as a friend

thanks for your note!
I am not suicidal...I jsut posted this as information for others who might be.

thank you again for you note...I love living in louisiana!
bizi

Thoughts from Pter on Suicide (From the sos forum at neurotalk)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Our minds are quite manipulative particularly when cultivated by fear. Do not fear your suicidal thoughts. Do not be ashamed of them. Do not let them be a negative aspect of your being. Accept them..and post them here or talk openly about them to friends and family...

A suicidal thought is NOT initiated by the mind as a way to harm the person.
It is initiated by the mind as a misguided attempt to protect the person. By understanding its intent you will be able to redirect it with self esteem and self love in place...fear will not be able to stimulate the negative cascading psysiological affects that make so many of us tire to the point of accepting suicide as the solution."

~Pter

Peters' words regarding suicidal thoughts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As to the thoughts, I will be the first to say they are exhausting and, as I have said previously, they tire us to a point where we honestly believe suicide is the only solution. It is not. BEFRIEND and TALK. These thoughts are a part of you, for better or worse. I believe strongly in a physiological connection with suicidal thoughts. Our fear of the thought stimulates a negative physiological reaction which appears to give the negative thoughts enhanced power over us. Step back for a moment and place yourself in an imaginary situation. You see a child running into a busy roadway...you run quickly to save this child from oncoming cars...feel the reaction rising in your body. The adrenaline pounding throughout your body and brain. Now the rescue is over, your alone, feel the exhaustion of your body and mind.

You are rescuing yourself daily, hourly, every few minutes. Each thought envokes a physiological reaction with the end result being exhaustion. Befriend this thought. Treat it as you would the child who ran into the pathway of cars. Hold it, talk to it, teach it that there is another way to walk the roads of life. Post it here and allow others to comfort it. Do not be ashamed of it. What is it really but a thought that wants attention. Understand now, I did not say a PERSON who wants attention but a THOUGHT that wants attention from that person. It is the fight against the thought that tires us and makes us vulnerable to enactment of the thought.

I cannot give you a reason to live. I can, however, take away your reason for dying. An untrained unaccepted thought is not justification for death.