Suicide is a serious problem in the United States and all
over the world. More than 30,000 people in the U.S. commit suicide each year
and another 750,000 make suicide attempts. There are several reasons why people
attempt to or are successful at taking their own lives. These reasons may not
make sense to some but for the person who wants to commit suicide, they believe
it is their only option.
Not everyone who attempts suicide is successful and it's estimated that one
out of 25 people who attempt suicide actually die by it. While suicidal thoughts
are extremely common, acting on those thoughts are not. There are common
misconceptions and myths about suicide as well as suicidal people. This list will
explain the top 15 reasons why people commit suicide and how you can get help
if you or someone you know is suicidal.
15) Mistake
Yes, you can take your own life by mistake and there are numerous ways you can
accidentally kill yourself. Recreational drug use can lead to overdosing and
alcoholism can cause you to die from alcohol poisoning. Things such as horseplay
and being careless have been the cause of someone accidentally committing
suicide. Bungee jumping, skydiving, whitewater rafting and other thrill seeking
activities can cause a person to lose their lives as well as dangerous games,
like Russian Roulette.
Accidental Drug Overdose
Another cause that seems to be getting more common when it comes to
accidental suicide is the act of autoerotic asphyxiation. Autoerotic
asphyxiation involves decreasing your oxygen supply during sexual acts to
heighten your orgasmic release. Both adults and teens have fallen victim to this
accidental suicide tactic. In fact, almost 1,000 people die each year due to
autoerotic asphyxiation. These individuals use things, such as: ties, ropes,
cords and clothing to limit their breathing while having sex or masturbating.
Usually, these people set up a way to quickly free themselves after they’ve
achieved orgasm but sometimes their fail-safe falls through and they end up
losing unconsciousness then dying. Most of the people who die from autoerotic
asphyxiation do not want to die, they also do not realize the dangers involved
with this act.
14) Humiliating
Situation
You’ve probably been embarrassed or felt humiliated at least once in your life.
No, it’s not a great feeling but most of us are able to overcome it. However,
some people feel as though they can never get pass their humiliating situation
and end up taking their own lives because of it. Adults, teens and even
children have killed themselves as a means of escaping the feelings that come
with being humiliated. Several members of the LGBT community have committed
suicide after being outed to family and friends by other people. Mothers,
fathers, and legal guardians have taken their own lives after losing their jobs
and being unable to provide for their families. Things like being cheated on,
failing a course or being kicked out of college can make a person feel so
embarrassed that they feel it is impossible to go on. If you need
someone to talk to about a humiliating situation that has happened to you then you
can go to blahtherapy.com to speak with people who understand your feelings and
won’t judge you.
Humiliation
13) Feelings of
Helplessness and Hopelessness
Many times a person commits suicide because they feel they have no reason left
to live. You may have hit patches in your life where you feel like nothing is
going right and things will never change. Some people who experience those
feelings on an everyday basis feel like they’re ready to stop trying and give
up. There are numerous reasons for which a person might feel like things will
never get better: being stuck in a living situation that they cannot get out of,
not making enough money to pay their bills, being overly affected by the
negative aspects of the world, being homeless and needing to rely on government
assistance are all reasons someone may decide to take their own life. Children
and teenagers who are unhappy with their family life at home or who are doing
poorly in school may feel like things will never get better for them then
sometimes decide to commit suicide. Both adults as well as children may feel like they
are a burden to someone else and may believe that if they are gone then it will
improve the lives of others. There are people out there who want to help you get
over feeling helplessness, talk to you doctor who can refer you to counseling or
therapy.
Hopeless and Helpless feelings as well as roots
Therapy is available to help those with Suicidal Thoughts.
12) Changes in
Family
You may know of someone who has gone through a divorce, you may even have gone
through one yourself or maybe you’re the child of divorced parents. Perhaps
your spouse cheated on you or maybe your parents spend more time with your new
sibling and seem to have forgotten about you. All of these could be and more
than likely have been reasons a person has committed or attempted suicide. Many
people take family very seriously and are adverse to change. Someone in the
middle of a divorce might feel like they’ve failed in keeping their spouse
happy. If children are involved, they may also feel like they’ve failed their
children. If one person is required to pay child and spousal support, that
person may feel like they’ll never have any money for themselves and might feel
like they’ve been wronged. If you’re going through a divorce, you might feel
like the drastic change is too much for you to bear. Children who witness their
parents relationship dissolving may feel like it’s their fault and think that if
they’re gone, it will help their parents get back together. When parents bring
home a new addition to the family, a child might feel like their parents have
forgotten about or no longer need them. While changes in your life can be scary,
you are not alone with your feelings. Family and friends can be your support
system as well as mental health professionals.
Divorce can cause Suicidal Thoughts
Jealousy of a new addition to the family can bring about
Suicidal Thoughts
11) Chronic Pain
It’s probably not a shock to you that people experiencing chronic pain decide to
take their own lives because people who suffer from chronic pain never receive any
relief. They may take medications to help them cope but the pain never actually
goes away. These people are tired of living with pain and believe if they kill
themselves the pain will be gone. Chronic pain with no known cause, such as back
pain and migraines, is linked to an increased suicide risk. Former sports
players and war veterans may attempt to take their own lives when they suffer
from chronic pain with no relief. These people sometimes get tired of taking
pills and other medications or undergoing various tests. They’ve seen countless
doctors and when they feel like their pain isn’t or can’t be managed, they feel
like suicide is the only answer for a reprieve.
Chronic Pain is a Top Reason People Commit Suicide
Dependency on Pain Killers is Dangerous and can be a Motive
for Suicide.
10) Death of a Loved
One
The pain of losing a loved one can cause someone to take their life, parents
sometimes do this when they cannot cope with the death of losing a child. A
child might attempt suicide after the death of one of their parents, one
significant other might commit suicide after losing their soul mate. People form
strong emotional bonds to other people and when they lose that person the grief
can be too much for them to deal with. Sometimes if the person who died was the
main income provider for a family, the other provider may feel like they’ll
never be able to manage without them and will attempt suicide. In elderly
couples who have been together for many years, when one of them dies the other
feels so lost and lonely without them they may try as well as succeed at taking
their own life because they hope they’ll join their loved one. Attempting
suicide because of death of a loved one isn’t limited to the loved one being a
human being. Some people even commit suicide after the death of their pets, a man killed himself because he couldn’t get over the death of
his cat. If you’re having trouble coping with the lost of a loved one, try
speaking with a professional. If you’re unable to do so, forums like The Light
Behind forum are filled with people who can offer you a listening ear.
Some cannot cope with the loss of a Loved One and Take
their Own Life
9) Serious Injury or
Illness
For every person you’ve seen battling a serious injury or illness, there’s
probably another who willingly gave up the battle. Like chronic pain, people who
suffer from serious illnesses or injuries might decide to give up and commit
suicide to escape the pain as well as frustration. Some war veterans or patients with
diabetes who have lost limbs might decide that life is too hard or isn’t worth
living. Sometimes even finding ways to cope with the pain can lead to suicide.
Some individuals who suffer from diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, get addicted
to the pain medications prescribed to them. This addiction leads to accidental
or purposeful overdose. If you’re having trouble managing pain, please talk to
your doctor because there may be other alternatives for you.
Serious Injury can Make someone Feel as Though they Cannot
go On
Crohn's Disease is enough for some to commit suicide
8) Terminal Illness
Similar to serious illness, terminal illness involves pain and frustration. But
unlike serious illness, someone with a terminal illness will eventually die from
it. Many people with terminal illnesses feel like it’s pointless to wait for the
illness to kill them and will decide to take their own lives. This can be a
controversial topic because some people think that since they’re going to die
anyway it’s okay for the terminally ill to do this. Certain hospitals even have
physician-assisted suicides under state laws that allow for physicians to aid a
terminally ill patient with legally committing suicide. Many cancer patients and
people who have AIDS decide to commit suicide because they believe they’ll
become too sick and helpless and will have to depend on other people to care for
them. These people both want the pain and frustration of their illness to end
and some feel that they are being selfless to their loved ones because they will
not have to care for them.
Terminally Ill people are inclined to commit Suicide
7) Low Self-Esteem
Self-esteem involves having confidence in your abilities and your own
self-worth. You may know people with high or low self-esteem. You may have high
or low self-esteem yourself. Sometimes it takes steps to work up your
self-esteem if it’s particularly low but for some people their self-esteem is
so low they believe that they do not deserve to live. Although self-esteem
refers to esteem of yourself, many outside factors can cause a person to have
low self-esteem. Being mistreated by friends, family, loved ones and people you
trust can cause it. Comparing your physical appearance to people you see on
television, in movies and other entertainment media outlets can be damaging to
your self-esteem. Feeling like you’re not in the same place or doing the same
things with your life as your peers are can also cause you to have low
self-esteem. When your self-esteem is too low you may find that you don’t care
about yourself or what happens to you. People who have low self-esteem might
feel like they are living a pointless life and may attempt to commit suicide. If
you think you have low self-esteem and are plagued by thoughts of suicide, talk
to your family and friends. They can see great things in you that maybe you
aren’t able to see on your own.
Low Self Esteem can cause Suicide
6) Bullying
Bullying is becoming a huge problem in today’s society, people who have been
bullied are two to nine times more likely to think about suicide. Around 30
percent of children have been bullied or are bullied themselves and 160,000 kids
stay home from school out of fear of being bullied by their peers. In the past,
bullying seemed to be limited to emotional or physical bullying. Due to current
technology, bullying can consist of cyberbullying, texting,
sexting or even circulating photos of people that includes nude or suggestive
photos. Bullying is not limited to children and teens, even adults can and are
bullied. When you’re bullied, you may feel like you have nowhere to turn and no
one to talk to. Sometimes children go to their teachers or other authority
figures that do nothing about it. Many times you don’t want to tell your parents
about the bullying because you think word will get back to the bully and the
bullying will worsen. Even parents can bully their children, making it so they
feel like death is the only answer. Adults may worry that they will lose their
jobs if they report that their boss or coworkers are bullying them. No one
deserves to be bullied and if you’re being bullied, report it to an adult or to
human resources.
Technology makes it easier to Bully people and make them
want to kill themselves
Bullying can make people feel suicidal
5) Physical Abuse
If you’ve never experienced physical abuse, you should be thankful. Women,
children, men, intersex individuals, transgender, gender fluid and non-binary
individuals can be and are victims of physical abuse everyday. Physical abuse
can be anything from being hit or slapped by a person that you are intimate with
to being beat up by a family member. Some people are attacked because of their
appearance, sexual orientation or because they don’t follow certain gender
roles and norms. When people feel like they can no longer take the beatings and
the abuse, they attempt or commit suicide as a way to relieve themselves from
the pain. Anyone, regardless of how big, small, young or old can be physically
abused. You do not have to have noticeable bruises, wounds or scars to be
physically abused. Even people who you love and are close to you can
physically abuse you. A wife can abuse her husband and a father can abuse his
child. Children can abuse other children and a child can abuse its parents under
the right circumstances. Physical abuse is illegal, if someone is physically
abusing you then call the police and go somewhere that is safe from the abuser.
Physical Abuse can be from Anyone and can Lead to Suicide
4) Emotional and
Verbal Abuse
You might be able to see the signs of physical abuse because most of the time it
leaves bruises but with emotional and verbal abuse, the scars you receive are
on the inside, not the outside. Anyone can suffer from emotional abuse and
anyone can emotionally abuse other people. You may not even realize when you’re
emotionally abusing someone. Insulting, picking on and shaming a person can
qualify as emotional abuse. Sometimes when a person receives too much
emotional abuse they feel like they are worthless and try to kill themselves. If
you are a parent who emotionally or verbally abuses your child, the child may
pick up your behavior and may emotionally abuse their friends or siblings. You
might even catch them saying abusing things to their toys and stuffed animals.
Verbal and emotional abuse is difficult to recover from. The emotional scarring
that the person gets from the abuse becomes embedded into their self-esteem.
They may start to believe those negative things that are being said to them and
may want to end their lives because of them. If you are being emotionally
abused, talk to someone you trust about the issue. If you believe you may be
emotionally abusing someone, search for local anger management classes or look
them up online.
Emotional and Verbal Abuse can make someone want to Kill
Themselves
3) Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is both very scary and very real, anyone can be a victim. Sexual
abuse does not only involve things such as rape or molestation. If also includes
things such as voyeurism, exhibitionism, forcing someone to look at pornographic
videos or pictures, sexual harassment, violent sexual threat and taking nude
pictures of someone without their knowledge or of someone who isn’t able to
refuse or consent. When a person is sexually abused, they may feel like they’ve
lost a part of themselves. The event can be so devastating and traumatic that
they feel like it’s something that they will never be able to get past,
especially when they are sexually abused by someone they trusted such as a
parent or loved one. If you’ve been sexually abused then you may find that it’s hard
to form bonds as well as connections with other people and you may have trust
issues. These feelings can haunt the person who has been abused and they may
feel like dying will be the only way to forget. Sexual abuse can lead to
physically and mentally damaging behavior, if the abused person doesn’t commit suicide
then it
is possible that they may go on to abuse other people. Sexual abuse is illegal
and you do not have to stand for it. Contact the local authorities about the
abuse, they will help keep you safe and will direct you to getting mental health
treatment.
Sexual Abuse can Include Many things and May Lead to
Suicide
2) Mood and Mental
Disorders
Mood and mental disorders can lead someone to suicide. There is about a 27
percent rate of a person having a mental or mood disorder during the time of
suicide. Many people who take their own lives have certain mental disorders, such
as: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. Usually
most of these mental disorders can be treated with medicine and counseling.
However, if someone isn’t being treated for their disorders or is not taking
their medications then they might fall victim to the disorder and try to commit
suicide. For some disorders like schizophrenia, voices inside the person’s head
may convince them to kill themselves. If you have a mental disorder, you must
take your medications. If you’re having trouble with your medications or are
unsure of whether or not you have a mental disorder then contact your doctor who can
arrange a referral for you to speak to a psychiatrist.
Schizophrenia is a cause of Suicide
PTSD is a Mental Disorder that can lead to Suicide
1) Depression
It is more common for someone to attempt suicide due to depression than it is
for them to commit suicide due to cancer, AIDs and diabetes combined. Anyone can
suffer from depression, it's a crippling mental disorder that takes
joy out of your life. If you’re suffering from major depression then you may notice
that you no longer have an interest in the things you used to enjoy or you no
longer care about spending time with people that you love. Major depression can
make it so that you can barely get out of bed in the morning, when you are
suffering from depression you are in a hopeless, helpless state and feel
that nothing as well as no one will ever be able to help you. People who are suffering
from depression have a chemical imbalance inside their brains and depending on how
bad their depression is they may even be able to mask how depressed they really
are. Sometimes the depressed person can get better on their own but more often
than not, they need help. If a person becomes too depressed they may feel like
they’re better off dead because they’ll never be happy.
Depression is the Number 1 Cause of Suicide
Conclusion & Help
As you can see, people attempt or commit suicide for many reasons. When a person
feels that death is the only answer to their problems then they are in need of help.
If you are having suicidal thoughts or know someone who is suicidal, there are
people out there who want to help you.
You can contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK at
anytime, day or night. If you prefer to chat with someone online, you can go to
IMALIVE
to be connected to someone who is waiting to talk to you and help you through your crisis. There are numerous websites and
crisis organizations for you to turn to. Please contact one of them before
resorting to more drastic measures, like inflicting pain to yourself or
attempting to take your own life.
