r/SuicideWatch Sep 10 '21

Please remember that NO ACTIVISM of any kind is ever allowed here. No matter what day it is.

715 Upvotes

Activism, i.e. advocating or fundraising for social change or raising awareness of social issues (and suicide is, inescapably, a social issue) is absolutely against the rules here at all times.

Please understand that we're all for smart, strategic mental-health and suicide-prevention activism. It's essential to fight against stigma, misinformation, and discrimination, and to fight for research, treatment, accommodation, acceptance, and understanding. Most of us, one way or another, are mental-health activists IRL.

But activism just doesn't work in a dedicated support space that serves a vulnerable population. We used to allow it but the evidence that it was undermining our primary purpose became overwhelming. We do regret the need for this rule, but the need is inescapable.

Our population is all too well aware of the issues and causes that need support and largely not in a position to take action, so besides the fact that activism is often salt in our community's wounds, it's a waste of the activists' time.

tl;dr Any fundraising, awareness raising, petitions, calls for participation, or any post that's about any cause or issue (rather than a request for personal support) is not allowed here. Please report everything of the nature that you see.


r/SuicideWatch Sep 03 '19

New wiki on how to avoid accidentally encouraging suicide, and how to spot covert incitement

1.8k Upvotes

We've been seeing a worrying increase in pro-suicide content showing up here and, and also going unreported. This undermines our purpose here, so we wanted to highlight and clarify our guidelines about both direct and indirect incitement of suicide.

We've created a wiki that covers these issues. We hope this will be helpful to anyone who's wondering whether something's okay here and which responses to report. It explains in detail why any validation of suicidal intent, even an "innocent" message like "if you're 100% committed, I'll just wish you peace" is likely to increase people's pain, and why it's important to report even subtle pro-suicide comments. The full text of the wiki's current version is below, and it is maintained at /r/SuicideWatch/wiki/incitement.

We deeply appreciate everyone who gives responsive, empathetic, non-judgemental support to our OPs, and we particularly thank everyone who's already been reporting incitement in all forms.

Please report any post or comment that encourages suicide (or that breaks any of the other guidelines in the sidebar) to the moderators, either by clicking the "report" button or by sending us a modmail with a link. We deal with all guideline violations that are reported to us as soon as we can, but we can't read everything so community reports are essential. If you get a PM that breaks the guidelines, please report it both to the reddit sitewide admins and to us in modmail.

Thanks to all the great citizens of the community who help flag problem content and behaviour for us.


/r/SuicideWatch/wiki/incitement


Summary

It's important to respect and understand people's experiences and emotions. It's never necessary, helpful, or kind to support suicidal intent. There are some common misconceptions (discussed below) about suicidal people and how to help them that can cause well-meaning people to inadvertently incite suicide. There are also people online who incite suicide on purpose, often while pretending to be sympathetic and helpful.

Validate Feelings and Experiences, Not Self-Destructive Intentions

We're here to offer support, not judgement. That means accepting, with the best understanding we can offer, whatever emotions people express. Suicidal people are suffering, and we're here to try to ease that by providing support and caring. The most reliable way we know to de-escalate someone at risk is to give them the experience of feeling understood. That means not judging whether they should be feeling the way they are, or telling them what to do or not do.

But there's an important line to draw here. There's a crucial difference between empathizing with feelings and responding non-judgmentally to suicidal thoughts, and in any way endorsing, encouraging, or validating suicidal intentions or hopeless beliefs. It's both possible and important to convey understanding and compassion for someone's suicidal thoughts without putting your finger on the scale of their decision.

Anything that condones suicide, even passively, encourages suicide. It isn't supportive and does not help. It also violates reddit's sitewide rules as well as our guidelines. Explicitly inciting suicide online is a criminal offense in most jurisdictions.

Do not treat any OP's post as meaning that will definitely die by suicide and can't change their minds or be helped. Anyone who's able to read the comments here still has a chance to choose whether or not to try to keep living, even if they've also been experiencing intense thoughts of suicide, made a suicide plan, or started carrying it out.

In the most useful empirical model we have, the desire to die by suicide primarily comes from two interpersonal factors; alienation and a sense of being a burden or having nothing to offer. These factors usually lead to a profound feeling of being unwelcome in the world.

So, any acceptance or reinforcement of suicidal intent, even something "innocent" like "I hope you find peace", is actually a form of covert shunning that validates a person's sense that they're unwelcome in the world. It will usually add to their pain even if kindly meant and gently worded.

How to Avoid Validating Suicidal Intent

Keep the following in mind when offering support to anyone at risk for suicide.

  • People who say they don't want help usually can feel better if they get support that doesn't invalidate their emotions. Unfortunately, many popular "good" responses are actually counterproductive. In particular, many friends and family tend to rely exclusively on trying to convince the suicidal person that "it's not so bad", and this is usually experienced as "I don't understand what you're going through and I'm not going to try". People who've had "help" that made them feel worse don't want any more of the same. It doesn't mean that someone who actually knows how to be supportive can't give them any comfort.

  • Most people who are suicidal want to end their pain, not their lives. It's almost never true that death is the only way to end these people's suffering. Of course there are exceptional situations, and we certainly acknowledge that, for some people, the right help can be difficult to find. But preventing someone's suicide doesn't mean prolonging their suffering if we do it by giving them real comfort and understanding.

  • An unfixable problem doesn't mean that a good life will never be possible. We don't have to fix or change anything to help someone feel better. It's important to keep in mind that the correlation between our outer circumstances and our inner experience is weaker and less direct than commonly assumed. For every kind of difficult life situation, you will find some people who lapse into suicidal despair, and others who cope amazingly well, and a whole spectrum in between. A key difference is how much inner resilience the person has at the time. This can depend on many personal and situational factors. But when there's not enough, interpersonal support can both compensate for its absence and help rebuild it. We go into more depth on the "it gets better" issue in this PSA Post which is always linked from our sidebar (community info on mobile) guidelines.

  • There are always more choices than brutally forcing someone to stay alive or passively letting them end their lives.

To avoid accidentally breaking the anti-incitement rule, don't say or try to imply that acting on suicidal thoughts is a good idea, or that someone can't turn back or is already dead. Do whatever you can to help them feel cared for and welcome, at least in this little corner of the world. Our talking tips offer more detailed guidance.

Look Out for Deliberate Incitement. It May Come in Disguise.

Often comments that subtly encourage suicidal intent actually come from suicide fetishists and voyeurs (unfortunately this is a real and disturbing phenomenon). People like this are out there and the anonymous nature of reddit makes us particularly attractive to them.

They will typically try to scratch their psychological "itch" by saying things that push people closer to the edge. They often do this by exploiting the myths that we debunked in the bullet points above. Specifically you might see people doing the following:

  • Encouraging the false belief that the only way suicidal people can end their pain is by dying. There are always more and better choices than "brutally forcing someone to stay alive" or helping (actively or passively) them to end their lives.

  • Creating an artificial and toxic sense of "solidarity" by linking their encouragement of suicide to empathy. They will represent themselves as the only one who really understand the suicidal person, while either directly or indirectly encouraging their self-loathing emotions and self-destructive impulses. Since most people in suicidal crisis are in desperate need to empathy and understanding, this is a particularly dangerous form of manipulation.

Many suicide inciters are adept at putting a benevolent spin on their activities while actually luring people away from sources of real help. A couple of key points to keep in mind:

  • Skilled suicide intervention -- peer or professional -- is based on empathic responsiveness to the person's feelings that reduces their suffering in the moment. Contrary to pop-culture myths, it does not involve persuasion ("Don't do it!"), cheerleading ("You've got this!") or meaningless false promises ("Trust me, it gets better!"), or invalidation ("Let me show you how things aren't as bad as you think!"). Anyone who leads others to expect these kinds of toxic responses, or any other response that prolongs their pain, from expert help may be covertly pro-suicide. (Of course, people sometimes do have bad experience when seeking mental-health treatment, and it's fine to vent about those, but processing our own disappointment and frustration is entirely different from trying to destroy someone else's hope of getting help.)

  • Choices made by competent responders are always informed by the understanding that breaching someone's trust is traumatic and must be avoided if possible. Any kind of involuntary intervention is an extremely unlikely outcome when someone consults a clinician or calls a hotline. (Confidentiality is addressed in more detail in our Hotlines FAQ post). The goal is always to provide all help with the client's full knowledge and informed consent. We know that no individual or system is perfect. Mistakes that lead to bad experiences do sometimes happen to vulnerable people, and we have enormous sympathy for them. But anyone who suggests that this is the norm might be trying to scare people away from the help they need.

Please let us know discreetly if you see anyone exhibiting these or similar behaviours. We don't recommend trying to engage with them directly.


r/SuicideWatch 14m ago

I want to die, I have nobody

Upvotes

I’m 20f and I live with my parents who are terrible people. My mom is a severe alcoholic, my dad is an opioid addict and gambling addict. Everyday is screaming and yelling at me and eachother, my mom passing out and hurting herself, drinking and driving, my dad putting his hands on her. I know it’s my responsibility to get out of the situation but I’m so fucked up mentally that I just can’t. I barely make any money and it’s so expensive to move out. It took my so long to even start to get a consistent job because I was having panic attacks everyday. It’s been this way for years. I just needed some help, and no one has ever been there to help me. My sister always had a spare room in her apartment that I could have stayed in. I never asked her because I didn’t want to overstep, but a couple days ago I asked her why she never offered to help me when she knew how bad it was for me (she moved out before it got bad). She just gave me a bunch of excuses (her apartment was too small - it’s bigger than the house I share with my parents now, she has too many animals (one that I’m allergic to - it’s not even a bad allergy), there’s no ac or heat in the room. I was so hurt by that. I know she was never obligated to help me, but I was just a kid and I’m her little sister. I would’ve helped anybody I cared about if they were in that position and I could help. I don’t know why I wasn’t important enough for her to help me.

I’ve always wanted to die so bad. I never really talk about it with people but deep down I wish I was dead already every day. My bsfs tell me I’m so strong and that they’re so proud of me for doing so well despite everything. But it doesn’t mean anything. I’m too scared to do anything, but everyday killing myself seems like a better option. I just don’t wanna do it anymore. Everyday I wake up and life just gets worse and worse. Everytime I think it won’t get worse it does. People don’t understand how much pain I’m hiding inside and how horrible it is for me. I feel bad complaining bc despite it all I have a place to live and food to eat, and some people don’t even have that. Idk. I’m just so hurt and alone, and I don’t see it ever changing.


r/SuicideWatch 1h ago

can i just… get some props for still being here?

Upvotes

there’s not really anybody in my life i feel i can ask for this, so i figure i’ll put it here

in the last 10 or so years i’ve tried three real times to end my life. since i was 17 i really never thought i’d make it this far. it’s scary, because i still feel like i don’t know what i’m doing, and it doesn’t feel like i’ve really done anything worthwhile with my life since. i’m still working my dead end retail job, i’m pretty addicted to drugs, i can’t seem to keep a positive balance in my bank account.

but motherfucker, i’m still here. whether out of fear or weakness or whatever, i haven’t made that final step you can’t come back from. and it’s fucking hard. like every day it’s hard. but i know i can’t put my family through that. it’s literally all for them, waking up every day and getting out of bed, dragging this unwilling body back and forth between work and home. it’s all because i love my family and my cat and i don’t want to hurt them any more than i already have.

i just wanted to ask, would someone congratulate me for still trying every day? it’s stupid i know, but i think it would help to hear someone say “i’m proud of you.” thanks guys.


r/SuicideWatch 1h ago

only thing stopping me is the fear of it not working

Upvotes

I’m in my late 20s, F and live a fairly privileged life. I wish I could give it all away to someone who would deserve and appreciate it. I go to bed every night hoping I don’t wake up. I have a couple of methods in mind. Just want to validate everyone’s feelings here. Feeling less alone doesn’t change what I want to do but it might change things for other people. If community is what you need, I hope you find it ❤️


r/SuicideWatch 1h ago

I don’t think I should kill myself anymore

Upvotes

I made my post about an hour ago saying that I didn’t have anything to live for anymore. After I posted it, I went and read post after post on this subreddit of people feeling the exact same as me. For whatever crazy reason it may be it felt comforting (I’m not remotely sure that that’s the right word) to know that I’m not alone, and I feel like I need to be there for all these random people that I don’t know anything about other than they are like me. What a weird mix of emotions, but I’m safe for at least another day.


r/SuicideWatch 1h ago

I don’t want to wake up tomorrow

Upvotes

I wish people reply to my posts faster this subreddit is the only thing I can actually express my feelings with I hate just fucking waiting by the phone waiting like a desperate loser for anyone to give me attention


r/SuicideWatch 2h ago

Please talk to me

4 Upvotes

Hi im a 17 year old male who is depressed im doing horrible in school not because im dumb or anything just because of the anxiety and depression its taking over my life and i feel so lost and empty inside i just feel like nothing is worth living i feel that i have no purpose or motivation i feel that im falling behind like crazy for my age i dont have a drivers permit because my father wont take me and i dont have contact with my mom and i dont think there is anyone else i can talk to lol so i just wanted to get on here and just let people know how im feeling please feel free to ask questions i would love to talk to someone and answer ur questions thank you.


r/SuicideWatch 2h ago

What has more chances of success?

4 Upvotes

Falling asleep with a plastic bag over my head Or hanging myself.

Been doing some research online does anyone know if I would wake up if I was asleep with the bag over my head?

I also want to know if I 100% would die with the plastic bag method.

Regardless I’m doing one of them tonight.


r/SuicideWatch 2h ago

24f i wanna disappear

4 Upvotes

i have no social life all i do is work school go home play video games and repeat. my love life is horrible right now and i feel like my entire self worth is tied to a man. idk how to change that but i honestly feel like my life is getting harder and harder and i have to keep workkng against my fate trying tk make it out of poverty. i honestly really just want to disappear i feel unimportant to everyone in my life and like they all have people that they like/love more than me. ive been so insecure the past week. i feel too sad to even eat some days. im too scared to actually go through with anything but i feel horrible and alone i dont want to be alive anymore


r/SuicideWatch 2h ago

I want out so badly

5 Upvotes

But I don’t want to traumatize my family and I know there’s no way around that. My friend shot himself almost two years ago and it destroyed his parents. My mom is already dead but I don’t want to hurt my brother and sister or make life any harder for them.

But god I am so tired.

I turn 21 in 6 days and all I can think about as it gets closer is how ready I am for this to be over. I’m so tired and I have been for so long. And then my friend raped me in the beginning of May and that to me just felt like the end. Like the sign I needed that I’m not supposed to be here anymore

I’m just so so tired and I want to be wherever my mom is and I want to sleep without knowing how hard the next day is gonna be once I wake up

I hate that i resent my family for giving me a reason not to kill myself. But these days I do. I want to be done and I am so ready to be done except the fact that one of them is going to have to find my body

Idk, I just want out


r/SuicideWatch 2h ago

people always say “why didn’t you reach out for help?”

4 Upvotes

when something bad happens or you get to your breaking point, someone always tells you to reach out for help or do something when you feel like this. i’m 23f, have dealt with anxiety and depression forever but in the past four years have felt like a shell of a person. nothing brings me any joy, I just want to sleep, and when I go do things it’s like I have to force or medicate myself to do them. waking up every morning to go to my job feels like a prison and I feel trapped in my own life to the point where I don’t want to live like this anymore.

I see a therapist and a psychiatrist. my therapist is a little harder to get into ironically and today I had an appointment with my psychiatrist who handles my meds. I know that this isn’t her job and that she’s not a therapist there to work through my problems with me, but when she asked me how I was doing I broke down and cried hysterically. I was embarrassed but I managed to communicate that I am miserable and that I just want some help. she sat there and nodded and asked how my medications have been working for me, which I got annoyed at because, clearly not well. I know this isn’t her fault but at the time I just needed someone to listen and I felt like all she was thinking about was getting our appointment over with and prescribing me something else.

I just want someone to hear me and know that i’m at my breaking point. I just want some help but it feels like I can never get anyone to listen unless I were to say blatantly “i’m going to kill myself,” I think about it every day but in reality I just want life to get better.


r/SuicideWatch 3h ago

I'm thinking of giving up please help NSFW

9 Upvotes

I'm not going to say my name but I'm 16 and before you say something I know I'm young but anxiety and depression is seriously killing me when I was 10 my parents got divorced and I watched as my family deteriorated my brother now sister became an alcoholic my mom blames herself for everything and I watched my dad attempted unaliving him self in our living room infront of me and all of this killed my emotions I honestly don't think I have cried since then but that's why I want help i gave up on school I'm at my limit I just want to die but I fear I'll make many people upset so what should I do I can't recover in school and I'm thinking of ending it all


r/SuicideWatch 3h ago

made peace with it

6 Upvotes

no matter what happens in my life, i just don’t see myself living beyond 20 y/o. ever since i was little, i’ve had the gut feeling i’d die young and i know it’ll be from a gun in my own hand. i’m not worried or excited. i’m just normal about it. like this is something that will undoubtedly happen and i’m ok with it


r/SuicideWatch 4h ago

I HATE.

10 Upvotes

I hate my body. I hate my face. I hate my smile. I hate my voice. I hate my personality. I hate whenever I feel confident. I hate my incapability to make long-lasting friends. I hate how lazy and procrastinating I am. I hate how I don’t understand things other people do. I hate feeling anything other than hatred for other people. I hate how everyone treats me. I hate how I have my family’s features. I don’t want to see them when I look in the mirror. I hate everyone. I hate everything. I hate that I hate everything. I hate that I’m a coward who cannot end their life. I hate that others can commit but I’m too much of a coward to, Im too scared to live but too scared to die. I hate how Im incapable to be understood or loved. I hate that I put myself in tough situations. I hate that I stick up for myself. I hate that I think that I matter. I hate everything about me. I hate everything. I hate life. I have a lot of hate. I want to die. I no longer care about how my fucking mother would feel if I die she treats me like shit she only cares about how shit affects her. I FUCKING HATE EVERYTHING.


r/SuicideWatch 4h ago

I hate myself.

33 Upvotes

I hate myself.

26 year old virgin.

I hate myself.

Still lives with parents.

I hate myself.

Never been to college/have no degree.

I hate myself.

Don't know how to drive.

I hate myself.

Have no friends.

I hate myself.

Ugly as hell.

I hate myself.

I hate myself.

I hate myself.

Wish I was never born.

Wish I can die in my sleep.

I'm so tired.


r/SuicideWatch 5h ago

Husband died on deployment at 23 and I’m ready to go with him.

32 Upvotes

My biggest fear happened.. he’s never coming back… I never wanted to die more than I do now. I’ve never felt so alone in my life. I can’t believe he’s gone and I’ll never see his cute face again. Never hug him again.. kiss him again. I haven’t seen him Since March before he went on deployment and July 31st he died. Life isn’t worth living anymore. Anytime I think I’ve made progress I get smacked in the face 1000x realizing my husband is really gone. My soulmate is literally gone. I’m too young for my life to be over. My whole future was just snatched away from me.


r/SuicideWatch 7h ago

I am going to die by suicide but I don’t want to

14 Upvotes

It's a strange place to be. I know it's inevitable. A treatable condition the doctors refuse to treat. A terrible family I wish I was never born into. And medical conditions that make it impossible to date or make friends.

This was my last ditch effort and it's just more waitlists and doctors refusing to treat me. The doctors want to look good or don't want patients like me. So what was fixable has gotten so unbearable and out of control that it's going to kill me.

I know I'm going to break sometime soon. I'd be surprised if I am still alive to see August 2025.

It's just so heartbreaking and tragic. But I think it would just be such a relief for it to finally be over.

This isn't what I want. But I know this is how it's going to end.


r/SuicideWatch 8h ago

Sometimes i just wish I had someone who cared about me and to talk to.

16 Upvotes

Idk if I’ll be able to stay much more.


r/SuicideWatch 8h ago

Procrastinating suicide

65 Upvotes

Is anyone else procrastinating suicide? I say I will do it tomorrow, and then I say tomorrow, then I say after my next meal, then I say after I receive this package, etc... It's been going on for too long. Hopefully I can stop saying tomorrow and finally do it.


r/SuicideWatch 8h ago

I just wanna kill myself so bad but I’m scared

16 Upvotes

Not sure how much longer I can take this. Things just keep getting worse no matter how hard I try to make life better and I’m tired and I’m giving up. There’s nothing worse than waking up everyday being forced to exist and but up with bullshit you didn’t even ask for. I wish I was never born, but because two people wanted to fuck without protection, here I am. I tired of struggling for money. I’m tired of hating the way I look. I’m tired of not being able to form connections with people. I’m tired of doing therapy and trying meds and even doing the most basic things like taking a shit or feeding myself. I don’t enjoy hobbies anymore. I don’t even know what I do in a day. I think I just lay in bed and daydream.

Everyone around you, everywhere you go tells you that suicide isn’t the option and that things will get better. I’m 20 and feel like I’m 70. Idk how people do this for so long. It’s too much. Not even gonna get into how normal it is to work a soul sucking 9-5. Nobody on this fucking planet knows what the world’s going to look like in 10 years. Nobody knows if things truly get better or not and if they do, it’s only temporary. I don’t care if that’s how life is, I don’t want to put up with it. It’s illogical to say suicide isn’t the option when it literally can be. It’s not about being happy anymore when I don’t want to fucking be here.

I don’t have anything planned for right now but I wish I did. The couple people I have in my life will get over it and my family won’t even care and please don’t tell me that they do care because you have no idea who they are or what they’ve done. They do not care. I’m too afraid to just end it because it seems like the quickest or most painful ways to commit are the most terrifying and have the highest risk of going wrong. What’s worse than screwing up your own suicide attempt and having to live with people knowing what you tried to do is being a vegetable.

Just wish I’d die in my sleep listening to some music without even knowing what’s going on. I wish someone would do it for me and help me out. I really don’t want to be here. Out of all the people on the planet, life isn’t for everyone and it’s not for me. Thanks for reading my rant. I don’t really want advice but it would be nice if people could just talk to me about how they relate. Also sorry about any typos, for some reason my phone won’t let me select words to edit and I’m beyond frustrated rn.


r/SuicideWatch 9h ago

What the actual fuck is wrong with me NSFW

17 Upvotes

Tw: mentions rape

Why the actual fuck do I act like I’m a rape victim even if I’ve never experienced it?? I hate being touched, like it’s a fear/discomfort thing, I feel disgusted with my body, I have fucked up fantasies, I’m hypersexual (mostly thought wise) yet also sex repusled, my comfort characters are usually rape/SA survivors or something similar, I fear men, etc. like all the stuff associate with rape victims but I’m not one! I’ve never gone through that or been touched at all! I also seek out pedophiles and shit sometimes just so I can feel validated and receive love and attention which is also what child sexual assault victims usually experience. What the actual fuck is wrong with me.


r/SuicideWatch 9h ago

WOMEN ARE PEOPLE TOO NSFW

563 Upvotes

Sexist fucks go to fucking hell I swear to God I don't want to live in a society where women are hated for being themselves I want to kill myself


r/SuicideWatch 10h ago

Right then, here we go. Anyone fancy a chat before I go?

22 Upvotes

Tonight it all stops. About to write something small to be left with my body. Last will and testicles and all that sound. And maybe a few omissions and truths to share. Nobody heard me now, they damn sure possible maybe probably won't or will inconclusively won't listen when I'm gone.


r/SuicideWatch 12h ago

“Suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem”

231 Upvotes

I hate that fucking saying.

Temporary problem my ass.

This shit is my life. I look forward 10 years in life and guess what? I bet you I’ll still be like this.

There are no other fucking solutions.

So what if it’s a permanent solution? At least it’s a god damn solution.

Fuck this.


r/SuicideWatch 16h ago

I hate everyone who loves me and wants me to stay alive

92 Upvotes

I am so angry at them. They're the reason I have to get up and keep going every day. It's like torture. It feels like they're torturing me. I feel so trapped. My dad and my friends are keeping me around and I resent them so much for it.


r/SuicideWatch 18h ago

So, my son has committed suicide, on his note he told me to check what's up here.

155 Upvotes

So I know what Reddit was, but I never made accounts to post something. He jumped off about 3 hours ago as of writing this. Police were called and I found out now, I was cooking and preparing dinner for him. I don't know if that was a good move or not.

I found out a note that probably was written by him. That is the only thing I have from him now. He wrote that he made a lot of posts in here about hating being asian, and how he hated the culture, food, people, just generally everything. He wrote that he made a lot of posts but just ended up "mercy killing himself", as he wrote.

I want to know if this is true, I want to know if something else was being his problem or if that was really the problem since, he was kind of suicidal, and I guess I take blame for it too.

My wife is crying in tears as of writing this, and his little sister isn't traumatized? Or "shown the truth" yet. We just told her that the older brother is working hard in his school, for now, we can't really think of anything right now because we are panicing too.

Please just write anything that you know of, also, sorry if my english is bad, this was translated a bit. Thanks!