Warning signs of suicide (from Mayo Clinic Family Health Book)
When a person displays warning signs of potential suicide, it is important to keep a close watch on him or her and to seek professional help as soon as possible. A person who is contemplating taking his or her own life may show one or more symptoms, but it is important to keep in mind that these warning signs are only guidelines. There is no one type of suicidal person.
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Withdrawal -- The person is unwilling to communicate and appears to have an overwhelming urge to be alone.
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Moodiness -- Although we all have our ups and downs, when the shifts are drastic -- an emotional "high" one day followed by being "down in the dumps" the next -- there is cause for alarm.
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Life crisis or trauma -- In a deeply depressed person, divorce, death or an accident can trigger a suicide attempt.
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Personality change -- The wallflower turns into the life of the party, or vice versa.
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Threat -- The person may state outright that he or she wants to commit suicide, saying things like "I wish I'd never been born." The popular assumption that people who threaten suicide never really do it is not true.
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Gift-Giving -- The person begins to "bequeath" his most cherished belongings to friends and loved ones.
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Depression -- The person appears to be physically depressed and is unable to function socially or in the workplace.
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Aggression -- The suicidal urge may be manifested in the person's student participation in dangerous activities such as high-speed driving.
The risk that suicide actually will be completed is increased in older men, in people who have lost a spouse, in alcoholics, in those with a previous suicide attempts or in those with a family history of suicide. For more information on suicide, go to MayoClinic.com.
- Mayo Clinic
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