What are some methods of preventing a teenager from comitting suicide?

Christopher: What are some methods of preventing a teenager from comitting suicide?
I’m a teenager and i’m curious cuz i’ve been considering it for a long time because i’ve been and am still going through a long, dark, and painful depression. And i want to know some ways to stop myself from doing it.

Answers and Views:

Answer by LazyHighschoolTeen
Try reading this:

https://www.cracked.com/article_15658_the-ten-minute-suicide-guide.html

It’s a good read (funny too). Good luck, I went through the same thing.

EDIT: Mallory, that’s pretty smart.

Answer by Mallory
Talk to a psychiatrist.

Or you can do what I did. (Not really, unless you think it will help) A friend of mine said he was suicidal and called me saying he was gonna overdose on sleeping pills and kill himself. I told him to come to my house and pick me up and we took his car to this really big bridge. (If you jumped off, it’d be instant pancake death, and if you weren’t lucky and didn’t die there, you’d drown.) We parked along the side of it and walked up to the highest point. This was our conversation

Him: What are we doing here?
Me: You wanna die, go ahead. Climb up there.
Him: What?
Me: Go ahead. Leave me your keys so I can get home, and climb up there.
Him: (after a moment of thinking) Fine.

So he climbs up on the rail and readies himself to jump.

Me: Now, I’m not gonna stop you, or try to talk you down from there. You’re up on that ledge, hold on tight, and listen to me. Look down at how far that is. Look at death, right there at the bottom. Once you let go, it’s too late to change your mind. So this is going to be an important decision for you. Make sure before you go, it’s right.

He did what I told him to, and looked down over the edge, thought for a minute, then climbed back down and hugged me.
Since then, he’s never thought about suicide.

In my opinion, it’s one thing to talk about it. It’s different looking at suicide from that close up, being right there on the edge of your life. That’s how I used to manage suicide. I wanted to die so many times, and I tried it too, but it wasn’t till I put myself in that same situation did I realize that I wasn’t really ready to die.

Now this is HIGHLY unorthodox, and I REALLY don’t recommend you try it unless you’ve got someone else there with you but that’s the thing with suicidal people. You can never tell who’s serious and who’s not, and I may not have a good outcome with this tactic some day.

Talk to someone first.
Try some anti depressants.
Do something positive to help your community, something that you’ll feel good about yourself for doing.
Call a suicide hotline.
NEVER EVER keep feelings of suicide bottled up. If you’re thinking about it, let someone else know. The odds are, you’ll be less likely to do it if you tell someone.
Trust me, you’re still young, life’s got a lot more to offer than what you see right now.

And note: People, so you don’t freak out. I’m not cold hearted. I wouldn’t have ACTUALLY let my friend jump. I just wanted to put it in perspective for him.

Answer by AC
Please talk to someone: parent, teacher, friend, physician, mental health counselor, or call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

Answer by sheila c
When you a young you tend not to focus too much on the distant future. If asked what will you be doing in 10 yrs time you tend to think of it as being and feeling the same way as you do now and having the same likes, dislikes and priorities. I will never listen to radio 2, I will never be that sort of parent etc. but 10yrs is a long time. Imagine your parents 70s or 80s clothes they most likely loved them at the time and thought they looked spectacular but if you asked them now it would be god I looked awful did I really wear that. Time does not just change on its own, you will also change how you feel about things that seem important now. In the future you will have other things you feel are important and many many many exciting challenges. The one most important thing to focus on is that people go through different phases throughout their life and the teen bit is only the first adult part of yours. You have so much more to go through and its really wonderful all the things you will do and see and all the people you will meet and friends you will make and many adventures. There will be ups and downs but for every down there is always an up round the corner. As a teen you are just learning to deal with this ups and downs thing, as you get older you will recognize it as just a bad slice of pie in a wonderful cake.

Answer by Glorioso
Try and find things you enjoy, even if you enjoy them less than you used to.

Exercise, if at all possible. Even if you don’t feel like it, if you can force yourself to do it, you should. It helps more than you would believe.

Get on antidepressants, if you’re not already. They don’t always help, but they tend to help more with more severe depression, so they might.

Distract yourself when things are really bad. Read a stupid website. Ask/answer a question on Y!A. Cut a piece of paper into itty bitty strips. Go to a movie. Even if it doesn’t make you happy, it gives you something to do besides thinking about or attempting suicide.

Have something time consuming to do in the event of a crisis (ideal would be someone, either a friend or a suicide hotline, on your speed dial, that you can call and be honest with,) and promise not to kill yourself without doing it.

If *absolutely* necessary, as a *last* *resort,* self-harm can help hold off suicidal impulses, but don’t turn to it lightly because it has a whole host of other problems that it brings in. Still, I’m putting it in here because it’s easier to recover from than being dead.

Answer by Megan
Hi, Christopher.

I know exactly what you’re going through, for years I thought about committing suicide, and I needed a lot of help to get out of that. The great thing is, there are MILLIONS of things that can get you out of it, or at least help.

The first thing to do is to think about why you’re depressed. What caused it? Did someone you love die, did you get out of a bad relationship? Just sit down and make a list of everything in your life that’s bothering you. They don’t all have to be serious, you know. Did a girl you like reject you? Did you get a scratch on your cellphone? Is one of your teachers getting on your nerves? Anything like that, just write them all down.

Next, make a list of all the positive, feel good things in your life. Do you have a great girlfriend, good friends? Is your dog’s breath smelling better then before? Maybe you found an amazing book or a new favourite song? Anything that seems happy, put it down. Is your birthday coming up soon?

Pick something to look forward to. You know, is your birthday next weekend? When does your school end? Is a family member coming to visit you? Each day, write down the number of days left on your hand and calender, it’ll get you excited and you’ll have something to look forward to.

Talk to someone. Talk to you’re friends, parents, teachers, guidance counseler, prefessional help, a suicide hotline, hell, talk to you’re fish if he’s willing to listen. Just get it all out. Don’t be embarresed, millions of people go through this, everyday, and there is a lot of things doctors can priscribe to help, anti-depressents ETC.

Do Stuff. Get outside and go for a bike ride, exercise, walk the dog. Go out to a party, or to the gym, get in shape, go to your library, meet that online friend and see how far that goes, join a team or a club or anything. Just have fun, getting out of the house will really improve your outlook on things. You’ll start forgetting about being so upset. Try getting a job?

Feel Good. Every morning get up and look yourself in the mirror. List ten good things about yourself. I’m good at sports, I have nice hair, I’m going on a date with a pretty girl, I love to swim, I’m a nice person…. Do this every morning and you’ll start feeling a lot better.

Why Can’t You. List reasons why you can’t commit suicide. Maybe your dog will miss you, who will feed the cat? What would happen to your little sister when she gets a boyfriend? What will your parents say? What would your friends do? Just don’t do it, okay?

Secondly, look for things that give you hope. Fly to the airport and look at the souldiers returning home who are kissing their wives or something, go to hopeful sites…

www.givesmehope.com
www.lovegivesmehope.com

Those really helped me out, they’re so happy and sweet. Read through those sites.

Good luck,and remember their are people who care about you, and the sun will come out tommorow, don’t give up.

Sincerely,
Megan.