Dealing With Suicidal Behavior - Essay Example

Dealing with Suicidal Behavior This essay investigates the best ways of handling suicidal tendencies when it involves a friend. It is essential that one has the necessary awareness on how to handle a situation where someone shows signs of a major affective disorder or suicide. While attempting to gain more information of about the person’s situation, ones reaction to revelations of suicidal intention should be sensitive to prevent increasing the person’s guilt. Being sensitive calls for one to show empathy, compassion and not being judgmental towards the person. After establishing the person’s intentions to commit suicide, it is also necessary to contact someone with the necessary authority to handle the person’s situation. However, when attempting to find solutions to the problems affecting a person with suicidal feelings, it is also paramount that the person’s privacy and rights are respected to make sure the person does not feel people are intruding into their life. Handling a situation in which a friend show signs of suicide is never easy. This is because of the fear that one might say or act the wrong way when dealing with the situation. Some friends might also be inclined to take the situation lightly hoping that the person will not act on the suicidal feelings. However, since I have had a number of academic lessons in handling such situations, I am able to take steps towards making the situation better when a friend shows signs of being suicidal. My first step will be to find out whether my friend is in real danger of making the suicidal feelings practical by initiating communication about his situation. To achieve this end, I will ask direct questions related to these feelings while being sensitive enough to my friends’ feelings. Examples of some of the questions to help me make a proper assessment of my friend’s situation will include: How are you coping with the problems you have been having in your life? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and want to give up? Have you thought about dying? How frequent are these feelings? When did you last have these feelings? Have you been thinking about committing suicide? How do you plan to do it? Do you have any plan of how you could do it? How close have you come to doing it? (Lawner, Slovis, Fowler, Pepe and Mattu 378) These questions are not meant to put the suicidal idea into my friends mind but are attempts at assessing the amount of preparation put into “the suicide plan” (Lawner et al. 377). The questions are therefore directed at identifying important areas of the preparation such as plan to commit suicide, means of doing it and the time. Apart from being aware of the suicide plan, these questions present my friend with a chance to talk about his feelings therefore reducing the risk of acting on them. There are a number of ways for me to be sensitive to the communication of suicidal intentions provided by a friend. I will not rush into presenting the friend with what seems to be quick solutions to the existing problems while also not appearing to belittle the person’s feelings. My reaction to the communicated problem will mirror how big the friend perceives the problem to be and how much it hurts him since those who are suicidal are sensitive to other peoples reactions making it important to avoid adding to their sense of guilt (Price and Gwin 364). To make this possible, I will not present rational arguments about why choosing to commit suicide is not the right thing for the friend and his family. This is because “since suicides are committed by people who are not thinking clearly” making it almost impossible to reason out with a person who has a strong will to go forward with such plans (Cutcliffe and Stevenson 173). Therefore, showing empathy and compassion for the friend’s feelings while also not being judgmental about whether he should feel that way is the best approach that will ensure I am sensitive to his feelings. There are a number of signs to look for when suspecting someone has an intension to commit suicide. Firstly, the person might start talking about suicide for instance making statements like “I wish I were dead”, “I feel like killing myself” (Stewart 482). Such a person may also access the means he intends to use to commit suicide by for instance stockpiling pills. A change in socialization behavior for instance avoidance and withdrawal from social contact and wanting to be left alone might also be sign that someone might be having suicidal feelings. Change of character can also reveal suicidal feelings where the person for instance starts engaging in self-destructive activities such as using drugs and being severely anxious or agitated (Brock, Sandoval and Hart 227). These are some of the signs to look out for to determine if my friend is experiencing suicidal feelings. The next step after determining that my friend is suicidal will be contacting the necessary authority about this issue. The right person to handle this will depend on the situation and surround in which the friend communicates these feelings. Therefore, if the friend communicates these facts while in school, I will take the information to the concerned persons for instance the class teacher or the school counselor. However, when the communication is done while off school the best action will be taking the information to the friend’s parents since they are better placed to take the necessary action (Capuzzi and Golden 265). Taking this action does not represent an intrusion into the friend’s privacy and rights since by coming out and opening up about the problem, he is already asking for assistance. Suicidal feelings come with a belief about what the victim perceives as gains from taking own life. Among them is to be free from the pain which makes the person feel life is unbearable. In such instances, the person feels there are no other alternatives to easing their pain except committing suicide. In circumstances when the person is dependent on others for care due to illness or other incapacitating events, suicide becomes an avenue to grant the caregivers freedom and release them from the burden. The suicidal person feels that taking own life will result in the caregivers living a happier life (Elder, Evans and Nizette 420). However, there are also some cons associated with committing suicide key among them being that life might get better in future. Even as the person feels is nothing positive to achieve in the remainder of their life, the ongoing difficulties might be a temporary occurrence that might not persist forever. By committing suicide, the person makes it impossible for them to enjoy that better tomorrow. Additionally, suicide may not be the only solution to the problem the person is facing given that since the person is fixated with the feelings of suicide, the other methods of solving the problem become non-perceptible by their mental framework. Another disadvantage of committing suicide is that the family members are left grieving for the loss of their loved one. Although the person escapes physical pain by ending life, family members are left to deal with the consequences of the person’s choices that might include feelings of loss and arranging for the funeral (Robinson 31). The purpose of this essay has been to explore various areas of concern when someone with close ties is suspected of having suicidal intentions. The signs to look out for in order to determine if a person is suicidal have been discussed. However, it is advised that one has to be sensitive when assisting a person with suicidal intensions to avoid increasing their feeling of guilt. Further, one such not attempts to solve the problems alone but should go with the information to the concerned authority such as parents, teachers or counselors. The last section of the essay has also dealt with the cons and pros of suicide with the action to commit suicide being seen as depriving the person of a chance to make a better future. Works Cited Brock, Stephen E., Jonathan Sandoval and Davis Shelley Hart. Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors. In Bear, G., and K. Minke (Eds). "Children’s needs III." Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists (2006). Print. Capuzzi, Dave, and Larry Golden. Preventing adolescent suicide. London: Routledge, 2013. Robinson, Rita. Survivors of suicide. New Jersey: Career Press, 2001. Print. Cutcliffe, John R., and Chris Stevenson. Care of the suicidal person. Amsterdam: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2007. Print. Elder, Ruth, Katie Evans, and Debra Nizette, eds. Psychiatric and mental health nursing. Amsterdam: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2009. Print. Lawner, Benjamin, Corey M. Slovis, Raymond Fowler, Paul Pepe and Amal Mattu. Avoiding Common Prehospital Errors. Eds. Corey M. Slovis, and Paul E. Pepe. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2012. Print. Price, Debra L., and Julie F. Gwin. Pediatric nursing: An introductory text. Amsterdam: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2007. Print. Stewart, William. An AZ of counselling theory and practice. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 2005. Print. Read More