When it comes to suicide, suicide prevention and depression, many questions arise, which I answer here to the best of my knowledge, my own experience and conscientious research, little by little.

1. Are there warning signs of an imminent suicide?

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A suicide is not really predictable but there are signs that may indicate it. This is made more difficult by the fact that those affected trivialise or even deny suicidal statements. My partner used to say: "Oh, I've had that since I was 16 and it's always worked out well". A suicide is often also a short-circuiting action that is suddenly carried out without any omen. Signs are unfortunately not always recognized as serious intent. 
 

Psychological signs can be:
 

• long-lasting sadness combined with a lack of future prospects and deep hopelessness

• long lasting depressive moods / crises

• aggressive and irritable behaviour in combination with anger

• lack of willingness to communicate

• the idea of suicide is taking shape and people are distancing themselves less and less from the possibility that ...

• neurotic behavior, possibly even compulsive acts

• Affected persons withdraw more and more from society and their circle of friends 

• Increasing feelings of guilt and the associated self-deprecation

• Affected people perceive their inner world as a prison and negative

• risky behaviour, such as extremely aggressive driving. we know the question of whether one is tired of life to do this or that. 

• More and more often, sentences such as "You'll soon be rid of me", "Nobody remembers me anyway", "I'm not worth anything anyway", "I'm only a burden to you anyway", etc. are being uttered. 

• Neglect of psychological and physical appearance. Affected people care less and less about themselves. 

• Change in eating habits (no more eating at all or eating attacks) 

• extreme insomnia

• Concentration disorders and decline in professional or school performance

• abandonment of hobbies

• Feeling of being paralyzed and not being able to get off your ass for anything

• Physical symptoms such as stomach or headaches and permanent fatigue increase. 

• Praise, reproach, compliments etc. are no longer received

• Joylessness in receiving gifts

• Affected people start to give things away, quasi a kind of inheritance or to "clean up".

• breaking off friendships for no reason

• extreme mood swings, especially when an extreme high occurs after a severe depressive crisis. 

• increased interest in death, the hereafter, God

• low frustration tolerance  

• high critical sensitivity

• stressful situations are subjectively perceived as much worse than they are when viewed objectively.

• increasingly frequent and urgent suicidal thoughts
   

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You should pay particular attention when
 

• there have already been suicide attempts or extreme psychological behaviour, such as self-injury, etc. in the past

• there have been suicides or attempted suicides in the family

• addictions play a role (alcohol, drugs, medication, gambling addiction)

• traumatic experiences occurred in childhood or in the past (e.g. violent parents or loss of an important person)

• financial worries, divorce, move, pressure to succeed, experience of violence

• physical diseases severely impair the quality of life

• in old age there is an increasing isolation

• other mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, occur 

 

Unfortunately, there are two problematic factors in dealing with people that suggest suicidal tendencies:
 

1. refusal to acknowledge a combination of symptoms as problematic and worthy of treatment

2. the environment reacts pejoratively to those who are publicly concerned and insinuates that one is seeing ghosts. 

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If you have friends or relatives you believe to be suicidal, constantly offer them your help, do not harass them but do not let them turn you away. Make it clear that you are worried and remember that a human life is more important than the negative degradation of your person by your environment. Should it really come to a suicide, it is important for your own mental health to know that you have done everything possible. What if you were right and did nothing because your buddies said: "Oh, he or she will be alright. Everything is not so bad"? 
If you observe some of the things listed above on yourself, confide in a friend and get treatment. Better to spend a few hours with a psychologist, even if it wasn't anything serious afterwards than to be dead in half a year. 

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2. Was macht ein Suizid mit den Angehörigen?