Myths and False Beliefs about Suicide
Summary
The collective unconscious beliefs about suicide raise a whole series of myths, false beliefs, and prejudices associated with its taboo and stigma that we must fight. They do not help, nor protect and are only useless attempts to try to explain its terrible why.
The experience of going through a suicide loss is terrible but even more distressing are the vision, ideas, false beliefs, and prejudices that society in general hold surrounding suicide death. Suicide undoubtedly raises many questions for all of us, but many false beliefs and myths have been created around this issue that do not help anyone.
List of myths about suicide:
All these myths are FALSE:
Wanting to die indicates great emotional distress and suffering but not necessarily a mental disorder. Not all people with mental disorders try to commit suicidie, nor do all people who take their life have a mental illness. Intense pain leads to the thought that the only possible solution is death.
People who engage in attempts of committing suicide are often ambivalent about life or death. Some people die when they try but would have preferred to live on. These people want to get rid of the emotional distress they feel.
Ageing and suicide
It is true that there are people who attempt suicide several times in a short period of time, but suicidial thoughts are not permanent. In some cases they never reappear.
Approximately 75% of people who commit suicide have indicated they would to so prior to action. These people do not want to draw attention to themselves. Never ignore these types of messages. Talking about it can be a way to ask for help.
Diego J. Palao Vidal
The stigma surrounding suicide is very large. Most people who contemplate suicide do not know who to talk about it with. Talking about it can actually be an opportunity to prevent it, it allows to offer a new and alternative view on the situation.
The percentage of cases where no previous symptoms, risk factors, or indicates were observed is very low. These cases are certainly difficult to avoid, but in most cases there are numerous indicators for suicidal behaviours. Prevention is therefore the greatest possible contribution to helping these people.
