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Suicidal thoughts and self-harm

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Sophie_M Do you have a safety plan?
  • replies: 97

Safety planning involves creating a structured plan – ideally with support from your health professional or someone you trust – that you work through when you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts, feelings, distress or crisis. Your safety plan starts wi... View more

Safety planning involves creating a structured plan – ideally with support from your health professional or someone you trust – that you work through when you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts, feelings, distress or crisis. Your safety plan starts with things you can do by yourself, such as thinking about your reasons to live and distracting yourself with enjoyable activities. It then moves on to coping strategies and people you can contact for support – your friends, family and health professionals. The safety planning model was developed in the US by suicide prevention experts Barbara Stanley and Gregory Brown. It has been used extensively by US veterans’ health organisations, hospital emergency departments and high schools, and there is strong evidence that it works. Many health professionals in Australia also use some form of safety planning to support clients experiencing suicidal thoughts or feelings, or after a suicide attempt. beyondblue has an app you can use to create a safety plan, called BeyondNow. The BeyondNow app takes the principles of safety planning and makes it even easier to use – so rather than carrying around a piece of paper, you’ve got it on your phone at all times. It’s free to download from the Apple Store or Google Play. If you don’t have a smartphone or would prefer to use your desktop or laptop, BeyondNow is also available to use on our website. Do you have a safety plan? Do you have questions around how you might create one, or fill out some of the sections? This thread is for discussing ideas around creating a safety plan, and sharing tips about what has been most useful about this process for you. Below are two videos featuring Peter and Nic, who have both used safety plans successfully. Peter Nic

Sophie_M PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: posting in this section
  • replies: 0

Life gets pretty hard sometimes and many people in this online community have had times where they have thought about hurting themselves or ending their life. This can be a stressful and at times overwhelming experience, and this section is here to h... View more

Life gets pretty hard sometimes and many people in this online community have had times where they have thought about hurting themselves or ending their life. This can be a stressful and at times overwhelming experience, and this section is here to help members who have had these experiences. This is a place to share where you are at, seek ideas for help and know that you are not alone. We are here to create a safe environment for everyone. Please do not provide any details about any plans/ideas that you may have had to hurt yourself, and importantly, help us to understand if you are safe by letting us know in the post. Making comments that let us know that you are having thoughts, but are safe, helps us to know that your conversation can continue without interruption, and that we do not need to put any further follow up for you in place. This section will not be for everyone.It shows posts from people who are distressed, offers public replies to these posts, and encourages people to come back and share how they got past that difficult point in time - what worked, what didn’t and how they now approach these difficult thoughts. It is important to think about what you want from the forums, what information you need and what threads will be helpful to your situation, rather than reading everything that is posted. For some people this section might be difficult to read – if it is not helping how you feel, then please consider moving to another section. This section, like the rest of our forums, is closely monitored and all posts are reviewed by moderators before publication. Moderators will also ensure that anyone needing follow up will be provided with information about how to access further support. ​This section remains a discussion forum focused on helping each other through the dark times, it is not a crisis support service. Any posts that do not abide by the community rules will not be published. Unlike other areas of the forum, threads in this section will be closed after a period of one month of inactivity. If you are in crisis or need immediate help, assistance is not available via these forums. Please call Suicide Call Back 1300 659 467, Lifeline 13 11 14 or contact emergency services on 000.

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Opppie Parental Shock
  • replies: 2

My young adult sin just expressed thoughts of not wanting to exist. First time ever. 2-3 years struggling with anxiety an depression. Not once did he share Suicide,till now he actually vocalised this. I need to get him to see he needs intervention. B... View more

My young adult sin just expressed thoughts of not wanting to exist. First time ever. 2-3 years struggling with anxiety an depression. Not once did he share Suicide,till now he actually vocalised this. I need to get him to see he needs intervention. But he just wants to be alone. I think he's trying to do it on his own - pull him out of his own thoughts, pain. Please if any ideas how to respond to my 23 year old, your help is much needed. thank you ...

Zeon I don’t know if I’m alright-
  • replies: 3

I’ve been doing alright lately, struggling a little cause my friend’s been down. Recently I started self-harming again but it’s worse than before. Not even because I necessarily need a vent. I don’t know if I’m going insane or I’m just so deep in eve... View more

I’ve been doing alright lately, struggling a little cause my friend’s been down. Recently I started self-harming again but it’s worse than before. Not even because I necessarily need a vent. I don’t know if I’m going insane or I’m just so deep in everything that I don’t even realise it. My friends are telling me to stop but I genuinely take pleasure in it. This feeling scares me, cause I’ve been called psychotic before and I don’t want them to be right.

StrivingToSurvive Anxiety at school?
  • replies: 4

Aaabjfjfbjdjdjdjfbjdkoejdjdj. once upon a TIME i was a happy student. Yh the only TIME was the last holiday where i never met any people during those peaceful times. ....and here i am writing this at midnight with tears running down my cheeks also re... View more

Aaabjfjfbjdjdjdjfbjdkoejdjdj. once upon a TIME i was a happy student. Yh the only TIME was the last holiday where i never met any people during those peaceful times. ....and here i am writing this at midnight with tears running down my cheeks also realising that i have SCHOOL tomorrow. i never ask for help. If people ask me how im doing i always reply with “im fine, everything is good” the only reason why i reply in this way is because i know noone would understand or help properly. And so my sadness just keeps building up with my smile sealing it... anxiety at school is one of the hardest thing ive dealt with and im still dealing with it right now. It may seem like im battling with just myself and others but in reality for me... its having another PERSON OR ME inside of my brain. It keeps talking and talking. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming that i just speak out loud “shut up, be quiet!” in the middle of class. Ofcourse it’s embarrassing when people look at me in shock which again makes my stress level go higher. I BARELY look at peoples faces. If i had to i would definitely avoid looking at their eyes because i see my voice reflecting back at me with negative thoughts. It’s terrifying... My social anxiety has gotten even worse after my mum passed away from cancer 4 months ago. I feel no purpose in attending school. Just there to suffer to find a way out of this war that is happening inside of me. No matter how much i breathe slowly and remind myself that this is the present, I constantly get knocked down by my anxiety. I pinch myself so hard till i bleed to make sure that this isnt a nightmare. Im honestly confused by now with everything. Me:why am i here for? Whats da point??! Anxiety: Did u forget? you serve a place for me inside YOU (haha my anxiety made me read what i wrote like 15 times)

Bent Stay positive
  • replies: 1

Hello all. I know that this time is really hard for some people. But just a reminder that you are good hands here. Do seek help, don't get bogged down with worries. And please don't listen to judgemental people out there. Some people will call you se... View more

Hello all. I know that this time is really hard for some people. But just a reminder that you are good hands here. Do seek help, don't get bogged down with worries. And please don't listen to judgemental people out there. Some people will call you selfish or stupid or other names. Don't listen to them. They might be worse. Stay optimistic! Stay positive!

fortunecookie How do you tell your parents about depression & suicidal thoughts?
  • replies: 7

Hey guys, I'm a return visitor but have never had the courage to start a thread before. I hope I haven't missed one that's discussing this exact question... How do you bring this up? Do you bring it up at all? A bit of context: I'm in my 30s, my fami... View more

Hey guys, I'm a return visitor but have never had the courage to start a thread before. I hope I haven't missed one that's discussing this exact question... How do you bring this up? Do you bring it up at all? A bit of context: I'm in my 30s, my family is back in Europe, my brother died of cancer when he was 20. So I'm the only child left, and I do think that's one of the main reasons why I'm still alive. The first time I thought about suicide was when I was 11. At 27 I was diagnosed with depression for the first time, even though I had episodes way before then, but I never told anyone. At 27 I was here studying and couldn't keep up, so I had to see a GP and get paperwork done to be able to study part-time for a semester. That was the one time I casually mentioned this "one-off" to my parents, I figured they would ask why I wasn't coming home yet... Since then I've had countless relapses, and it's pretty clear to me that this is an ongoing issue for me. I never told my parents about the relapses, even though they may have had a suspicion when I was living with them for a year. I've been back in Australia since 2015, and things have been going well for much of it, apart from a bullying situation at a workplace, which I left in the back of an ambulance after I intentionally harmed myself. (My parents don't know this part either.) Since then I've had a lot of therapy with someone I feel really comfortable talking to, I've changed meds to something that really helps, and I'm doing what I can to stay well. But I'm also struggling with a few physical medical conditions at the moment, so here I am... I need to make a decision about work, because I simply can't do full-time right now, even though I love my job. I'm even thinking of quitting and just not working for a while, because I'm so miserable recently. And that brings me back to the question: how would I explain this to my parents? And how much do I tell them? Would they really want to know, even if they can't do anything? They've been through enough over their lifetime, I don't want them to worry about me, especially being on the other side of the world, during covid where we can't just visit each other. Also, even though everything's a bit shit right now, I'm still hanging in there, and I'll get through this. So they shouldn't have to worry about that. Any advice or your own experiences would be greatly appreciated

Izzy_P_5 Self harm
  • replies: 12

Hey, i was on these forums 2 years ago when i was 14. I am 16 and 17 in may, time flys. I have struggled with anxiety, depression, ocd, eating disorders/anorexia nervosa, panic disorder, ptsd, emetophobia and much else. i havnt been at school since e... View more

Hey, i was on these forums 2 years ago when i was 14. I am 16 and 17 in may, time flys. I have struggled with anxiety, depression, ocd, eating disorders/anorexia nervosa, panic disorder, ptsd, emetophobia and much else. i havnt been at school since early 2019 in year 9 now im in year 11 at a new school and im so behind anyways, Ive been admitted to the psych ward multiple times for attempts and when im not doing well. I have also been admitted to private psych wards. Today i just wanted to ask if you struggle with self harm do you check the weather before you do it to see how hot it is gonna be for when you have to wear hoodies for the next few weeks. Anyways thanks for reading if you did,

apeMAN How did you rebuild yourself after attempting suicide?
  • replies: 9

I attempted suicide last year. It's been a difficult road to 'recovery'. If you've attempted then you know what it's like to hit rock bottom and if you are still here then I'd like to know what's helped you to rebuild yourself. Physically i exercise ... View more

I attempted suicide last year. It's been a difficult road to 'recovery'. If you've attempted then you know what it's like to hit rock bottom and if you are still here then I'd like to know what's helped you to rebuild yourself. Physically i exercise Mentally i employ CBT psychology and see a counselor Spiritually I practice gratefulness daily. But I was gone mentally when I attempted. All societal constraints, which typically stop people from attempting, have been eroded away over 16years. I'm trying to be here for my son, family etc but it's a real struggle

fred4761 Feeling nauseous & tired . . . just want to sleep
  • replies: 5

I feel so nauseous at the moment. I am not sure if it is from lack of sleep, stress or illness. I have been having problems with food and my gut and digestion but have yet to get to the bottom of things. My OCD and anxiety really play up at the thoug... View more

I feel so nauseous at the moment. I am not sure if it is from lack of sleep, stress or illness. I have been having problems with food and my gut and digestion but have yet to get to the bottom of things. My OCD and anxiety really play up at the thought of being sick. I just don’t want to feel sick anymore.

Woodsy23 Lost
  • replies: 2

I feeling lost atm , just spent 2 weeks in mental hospital and felt was in a good head space when left .1 week later and I feel worse than before I went in. I’m not feeling safe in myself I don’t want to go out the front door feel scared what will ha... View more

I feeling lost atm , just spent 2 weeks in mental hospital and felt was in a good head space when left .1 week later and I feel worse than before I went in. I’m not feeling safe in myself I don’t want to go out the front door feel scared what will happen or I will do.

Shaakka  I don't know if/how my life can be fixed. I used to drink to cope.
  • replies: 4

Hi all, I can't stress how much I hate myself. For most of the last year, I abused alcohol excessively because my psychiatric and psychology and mindfulness treatments and medication weren't working well enough. I stopped drinking completely about 4 ... View more

Hi all, I can't stress how much I hate myself. For most of the last year, I abused alcohol excessively because my psychiatric and psychology and mindfulness treatments and medication weren't working well enough. I stopped drinking completely about 4 weeks ago as I wanted to get better after getting really physically sick and learning that my liver was diseased as a result. I've since started going to the gym and eating 'somewhat' more healthier, but I've noticed absolutely no improvements to my depression and anxiety. Besides, the damage is already done, and even if I could fix it, there are still so many bad aspects mainly about my personality that have been life-long and impossible to fix. So my life is ruined, for example: - I'm unemployed. I can't hold down a job because I have absolutely zero self-esteem, meaning I can't handle any criticism no matter how constructive it is (I take everything to heart), I really don't think I'm good enough for anyone, and I crumble under any pressure or stress. I'm very useless and pathetic. - I'm soon going to lose my rental home because the property owner wants to sell it, and I can't afford to move anywhere else. - I'm 32, so I'm at the age when everyone else around me has their life together and are happy, whilst I've failed. So many people on social media on the internet brag about how well off they are, and this just puts me even further down. - I'm very fat and ugly. I have a very noticeable and unsightly scar on my face that I can't afford to get removed. - Reading news websites and articles online gives evidence to show how bad life is. - I desperately need to get back onto taking psych medication, but the earliest I can see my psychiatrist doctor is late this month. My two options are either suicide, or start drinking again so that I'm always drunk and therefore numb to the world and my problems.