Suicidal ThoughtsMedical Author:
Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD
Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MDDr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland. Medical Editor:
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACRDr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
Suicidal Thoughts OverviewIf you or someone you know is considering suicide and are unsure how to deal with it, call a suicide hotline, like 1-800-SUICIDE, to get help. Suicidal thoughts are troubling, especially when accompanied by depression, other mental illnesses, alcohol or substance abuse, or plans for suicide. This situation demands immediate evaluation. These thoughts may indicate the presence of a serious psychological disorder. The critical distinction is between a person's thoughts regarding death and suicide and actually feeling suicidal. When doctors hear that someone wants to die, they refer to these thoughts as suicidal ideation and divide them into two categories.
If a person has an actual desire to die (in either form of suicidal ideation), he or she must seek immediate medical attention. |
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Suicidal Thoughts
What Is Depression?
Clinical depression is not just grief or sadness. It is an illness that can challenge the person's ability to perform even routine daily activities. At its worst, depression may lead the person to contemplate or commit suicide. Depression represents a burden for the person and his or her family. Sometimes that burden can seem overwhelming.
Several different types of mood disorders exist.
- Major depression is a change in mood that lasts for weeks or months. It is one of the most severe types of depression. Major depression usually involves a low or irritable mood and/or a loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities. It interferes with the person's normal functioning. The person may experience only one episode of depression, but repeated episodes often occur over the person's lifetime.
- Dysthymia is less severe than major depression but usually goes on for a longer period, often several years. ...
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Suicide ranks as the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States.
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