Hello all, Today we are going to look at How to Help Someone Dealing with Depression and Suicidal Thoughts?. This is a post originally written on a website called HealthyMindHealthyPeople.com, and by a very brave woman called Lisa. Most of this post will be in her words;
By writing this I’m hoping it can help to save lives. #If I Can Help Save 1 Life!
How to Help Someone with Depression and Suicidal Thoughts?
Millions of people around the world suffer from depression and I’m no exception. In my life, I have had it quite a few times in varying degrees.
This is me Lisa H.
My Story! What Happened to Me.
I first suffered from Depression when in my last 3 years of school. It all started because of bullying. This is a very common way for it to start. Once I stood up to the bullies it all stopped and after a few weeks, I was feeling a lot better about everything.
The next time I was suffering was when my children were all quite young and divorce was in progress. The struggle of bringing up 4 children on my own played on my mind and got to me so much that I slipped into Depression again. This time it lasted for a lot longer and I sought help from my doctor.
After taking Antidepressants for 6 months I felt like my old self again.
The third time I had it was the worst time of my life. Suicidal thoughts came all the time and one day I acted upon them. By sitting calmly with a glass of water and taking one tablet after another until I had taken 30 or so. They were all different kinds and could have killed me if I had gone to sleep.
Luckily I thought about my daughters and changed my mind. I told my partner what I had done and he got me to the hospital where I had my stomach pumped. That was an awful experience and I never did it again.
Every now and again it comes back but luckily I would recognize the symptoms and do something about it. By either changing my routine, doing more exercises, changing my diet and if that didn’t help enough I visited the doctors.
Two of our Daughters Both Suffered.
The first one to suffer was 12 years old. She was having problems at school with the work. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it, it was quite the opposite. She did it so quickly and always finished first, then she became bored and disrupted the class. This caused her to get detention and eventually, she got excluded from school.
The school refused to put her into a higher Year where the work would challenge her. Her issue was the work was too easy. They would not take her back so she went to a special school for naughty kids. From here she became very depressed. Her sisters and I talked to her a lot and then we saw the doctor. Who gave us some things to do that would help and over time she was okay again.
My other daughter who got it was a few years older and she had just had a baby. This type of Depression is called postnatal depression and it is quite a common thing to happen at that time.
She had it so bad that she also took an overdose and ended up in the hospital, having her stomach pumped. Afterward, she said how awful it was and that she would never go through that again. She had some counselling sessions and that helped her to get back to her old self again.
As of writing this, 7 years have gone by and she seems to be okay still with the Depression aspect, but she does suffer a lot with anxiety. She has learned to ask for help when it is needed.
The Link Between Depression and Suicide.
If you get extremely Depressed and you don’t do anything about it, it can become very serious. Especially if you have suicidal thoughts.
In September 2019 a member of our family took his own life, sadly he was only 28 years old. He had been suffering from other issues as well as Depression. Although, he did seek help and for a year or so he seemed to be doing okay. On the day he took his own life it came as a massive shock to everyone that knew him. It affected more than 300 people’s lives.
In the aftermath of his death, we learned a lot of things we didn’t know. He had tried it twice before and 2 of his friends had stopped him.
The most tragic part is his 2-year-old son who now does not have a daddy.
How to Help Someone with Depression and Suicidal Thoughts?
Please Seek Help.
With everything, I and my family have been through I urge you to seek help before it is too late. It can be a long road to recovery but you are very important to so many people so see a Doctor.
Committing Suicide is not the only way! The worst thing when someone does this is ‘the not understanding why they did it part’. When help was offered lots of times but it was never taken up.
You feel very guilty and wish you had done more to help, but what more could you have done?
You can’t force people to open up to you if they don’t want to. That is the sad truth.
Final Thoughts
Depression when it gets out of control often leads to Suicidal thoughts. Please don’t act on them.
Many people suffer from depression and recover. There are many ways this can be achieved by changing the way you think and act. You can change your diet and do some form of exercise. Many doctors recommend these changes. There are herbal medicines and other natural remedies you can try.
If none of these things helps you then seek professional help. So you may have to take some Antidepressants for a while but that is not the end of the world. Please find somebody to talk to about what you are going through. You are not alone!
There is a lot of help out there you just have to choose to take it.
I want to thank you for reading this and I hope it helps you to see there is another way to deal with it.
If I can just save 1 life by writing my story then I’ll be very happy.
Please leave a comment below, I sure would appreciate it. If, you feel this could help someone you know then please share it. Or If, you have any questions I would be happy to try to answer them for you.
Take good care of yourself because you are worth it.
Thank you again
Lisa.
Also, please check out some of or other recent posts that you may find helpful;
How Depression and Tiredness Are Connected?
Signs and Symptoms of Depression
How to Deal with Depression or Anxiety?
Can Exercise Help with Depression?
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About Author
A very touching story indeed. I must say you are very strong to have survived all that and still standing strong to save a life. I’m proud of you. Keep doing the good work. Depression is a very serious condition and support structure is needed to help those (including myself) who find themselves in this predicament.
Hi Maggie,
Many thanks for reading and leaving me a comment.
Stay safe.
Lisa.
Dear Lisa
Thank you very much for your fantastic website. It is amazing that you show people where to start and what steps to take towards their healthy living and positive mindset. I hope more people will know about your website and follow your guidance.
Kind regards,
Andrey
Thank you very much Andrey,
I appreciate your time and comments.
Stay safe
Lisa
fantastic article depression is a silent killer you look normal the outside but you are in turmoil on the inside stay strong
That is very true Paul.
Many thanks for the comment.
Stay safe.
Lisa
Sorry to hear that you have gone through so much depression as a child and when you were older.
It is so hectic to hear that your stomach got pumped that must have been one of the most scariest thing ever.
You survived that is the main thing, Brilliant post. Hope it help others.
Much appreciated thank you for reading and commenting.
Stay safe.
Lisa.
A truly eye opening and touching article indeed. You highlight the issues and resolutions very well. I myself suffered with depression a few years ago. It wasn’t long after my daughter was born and my then 5 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He really struggled with the injections and the pain and it was very upsetting. Juggling that with a new born was hard. We were also very tight for money at the time. I seekers help and a good few moths later we brought our own home, my son started to and still does manage his diabetes very well
Hello Russ,
I’m sorry to hear about your little boy, that must be very difficult to deal with at such a young age. I’m pleased he is doing well now.
I appreciate your comments.
Take care and stay safe.
Lisa
I have been through the same with depression, I didnt stand up to thekids at school so I was excluded from that part of my life. I think thats why I became a loner who wouldnt socialize.
But I was lucky enough to meet my wife of twenty years who understood me and helped turn my life around.
Do I still get bouts of depression? Yes, but my wife helps me through them. It never leaves you but you have to find your balance to get through it all
Hello Kevin,
I’m so happy that you found a wonderful lady to talk to and share your life with.
Over time I have found exercise and talking help a great deal to prevent it from
rearing it’s ugly head again.
Thank you for the comment.
Stay safe.
Lisa
Hey,
Amazing post. Very rarely i see that people who suffer from depression speak about their experience. I here you are explaining about your daughters as every case is unique and different types of depressions. It is really great of you to share all these information and I am sure it will help many.
Thank you.
Hey Rajith,
Speaking to people helps a lot. I thank you for reading and commenting.
If I can help with my story it will be very worth it.
Stay safe
Lisa.
Hey, Lisa firstly I have to commend you for opening up and sharing what must have been traumatic times.
Touching on a subject that we never can get to the why if someone actually goes through with it.
I know of 8 people who took their lives and they were the last people you would have thought who’d have done such a thing.
I can’t imagine what the person goes through to get to that stage. Must be a very lonely place!
The thing is to talk to people before it gets to a certain point. I know, probably a response like “Don’t be silly, you’ll be alright” because nobody expects someone to carry it through.
So glad you found a way through it, and what better way than to help others.
Love it and thanks for sharing
Mick
Hi Mick,
I’m sorry so many people take their own lives, it’s a terrible position to be in.
You feel like their is no other way and the world would be better off without you.
Thankfully I have a great network of help.
I really appreciate your comments.
Take care and stay safe.
Lisa
What a nice post you wrote Liza! I really enjoyed reading it and could not be silent about your post so I decided to leave my comment here and say Thank You for sharing this quality post. Actually I was looking for information about the depression and when I landed on your website and read this post, it answered all my questions in details and it was exactly what I wanted to know.
I’m happy that you’ve decided to write about this topic and share it with others. It’s very useful post in my opinion and can definitely be used as a great source for everyone who is interested to know about this topic.
I will definitely come back to your site again to read more posts. Keep up quality articles! 🙂
Best,
Ali
I’m very pleased it has helped you Ali.
I appreciate the time you have given to read it and leave
A comment. If you need any help you can contact me and we
can talk it through.
Stay safe and well
Lisa
Hi Lisa. Thank your for your sharing to help those people who are suffering from depression and have a thought of commit suicide.
I would love to add on some help here too. If you really sit down and analysis it, do you see a cycle there? Everytime a depression come back to attack and then back to old self again and is being repeated. And that cycle of energy is so strong as you can see it is in your family.
If you study quantum physic, you will understand that everything is energy. If one of you can break through this cycle and completely change it to a new energy and influence your other members to change too, this whole cycle of energy can be shifted completely to a new energy.
In other words, instead of going back to your OLD self after every depression attack, change it to a completely NEW self! Old self actually mean you are going back to your past, still living in the past, the old you. Change to a new self mean new life! Learn new things, change to new habit, new thought, new way, do something differently out from you life routine.
I’m into yoga, meditation and heart coherence. All these can help to deal with stress. As we understand that depression actually start from stress. And where stress come from? The stress actuallly is being created by ourselves.
I have suffer depression in the past before. But today I am a new me new life. Wish you and your family well!
Hi Janet,
Many thanks for the comments, I agree totally with your suggestion and it is something my children and I have been doing. We get together a couple of times a week and swim as well as doing some aerobics or walking.
Stay safe.
Lisa
Hi there,
A really touching article, thank you for sharing such intimate details of your life! I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy.
Imagine how rewarding it would feel to know you have saved even just 1 life or steered someone away from negative thoughts by posting this article! I think now more than ever, people need to read articles like this.
Thank you very much Sharon for reading and commenting.
I really appreciate it.
Lisa