In my last Blog I discussed talking to teens, adolescents and friends if you suspect they might be suicidal. Here are some questions you can ask to find out just what their suicidal intentions are:

“You’ve been talking about suicide a lot lately—are things getting so bad that you are thinking about killing yourself?” (Often they feel so alone that death seems better than any life they could imagine.)

“What’s going on in your life that’s making you think of suicide?” (Often the answer is they feel worthless [“not good enough”; incompetent; weak—unable to deal with pain because they don’t know how] and alienated from parents and others; misunderstood, ignored and blame themselves for problems in the home.)

“What’s happened that’s made things so bad for you?” (Often they no longer think their lives matter to anyone—these thoughts are persistent and won’t go away.)

“Do you have a plan to end your life?”

“How often do you think about dying?”

“Is the feeling strong?” “How long does it last?”

“Have you ever attempted suicide?”

“Do you know of anyone who’s attempted or completed suicide?”

“Do you know anyone who will try to stop you from committing suicide?” (Ask for names, addresses and phone numbers so you can plan future precautions if the risk of suicide seems high.)

By the way, somebody who hasn’t considered taking their life isn’t going to adopt the idea of suicide, or be spurred into “doing it”, simply because the possibility has been raised with questions.

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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