Last but not least, suicide is preventable.
Evidence-based interventions include: restricting access to highly lethal means, effective treatment of mental disorders, crisis intervention, safety planning, follow-up after hospital discharge, responsible media reporting, community education, reducing stigma around seeking help, WHO considers suicide a preventable public health problem.
Effective treatment has helped me. Crisis intervention has helped me. Safety planning has helped me. I actually have a suicide safety plan (it is necessary for me).
I also want to share some misconceptions that research has overturned.
Myth: “People who talk about suicide won’t do it.”
Evidence: Many people who die by suicide communicated distress beforehand, directly or indirectly.
Myth: “Talking about suicide puts the idea into someone’s head.”
Evidence: Research consistently shows that asking someone about suicidal thoughts does not increase suicide risk. In fact, asking in a compassionate, non-judgmental way can reduce distress and help connect someone with support.
Myth: “Suicide happens without warning.”
Evidence: While some suicides appear impulsive, many people exhibit warning signs, behavioral changes, or escalating distress before an attempt. Recognizing and responding to those signs can be lifesaving.
It is also important to add that most people who experience suicidal thoughts do not go on to die by suicide. Suicidal thoughts are a sign of overwhelming distress, not an inevitable outcome. With timely support, effective treatment, and human connection, recovery is possible.
There is active suicidal ideation which involves actual planning, thinking and a resolve to go through with the act. There is also passive suicidal ideation where fleeting thoughts of ending things may occur, but there is no specific plan or follow-through. I have experienced both – active and passive.
When the breakup occurred, nearly two years ago in August 2024, I sent a text to my therapist following a session where he made all efforts to get me to hold onto life. In my text I said to him, ‘whatever the outcome, whatever happens to me, know that I fought hard, please don’t ever forget that I fought hard. I want to be here. I am fighting to be here.’
The core of that message still stands today. Each day I am fighting through pain, through illness, through grief and loss, through loneliness, through anguish, to be here. That is why I wrote the article The Fight Within (on Substack). You may not see the fight. I may not show it. Yet I am fighting, every single day, I am fighting to be here, to still be here, for my son, and for myself.
For the millions we have lost through suicide, for the close friends and family, for the colleagues, you have to know, just as I wanted my therapist to know, that they fought hard too. I know they did. They fought hard. They didn’t just give up. They fought hard. We are all fighting hard, through incredible odds and pain and illness. So please, when you hear someone didn’t make it, don’t judge, don’t assume they took the easy way out or they gave up, please don’t. And when you know someone is suffering, do some research, find ways to be supportive, to be safe, to be kind, to be empathetic, to be compassionate. So many are carrying demons that we cannot imagine. Kindness is so critical at this time.
I have not forgotten my fellow persons of faith. God is a constant for me, and it is through Him that I remain in this fight. Whatever we are holding on to, faith or otherwise, we are fighting. Be in the fight with us, not against us. Be gentle with your critique and your judgment.
I wish everyone long life, health and safety.
By Boakyewaa Glover