All Posts Archives - Page 12 of 17

“Better Mad than Dead”: Keeping a Friend’s Suicidal Thoughts Secret

July 15, 2013

37

Teenagers who think of suicide often tell only their friends, and they make the friends promise to keep their suicidal thoughts secret. This puts the friends in a bind. Should they break their promise and tell an adult? Telling an adult about…

Do You Blame Yourself for Being Suicidal?

by Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW

July 10, 2013

17

“I had no idea what I had done to you, although I should have known it in retrospect. So I guess now is a good time to say I am sorry, although it is about 19 years too late.” Those words came…

Where Are They Now?: The Fate of Suicide Attempt Survivors

by Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW

July 5, 2013

59

Say someone wants to die by suicide so badly that they go to the Golden Gate Bridge to jump off. But then they are stopped from jumping. What happens to them afterward? You might think that, once freed from the authority figures who…

“Shame Festers in Dark Places”: Keeping Suicide Secret

by Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW

June 30, 2013

27

A friend recently sent me an anguished email about someone she knew whose teenage daughter died the week before. The mother was telling others that the death was an accident, when it was unquestionably a suicide. This saddened my friend greatly –…

What’s Your Pleasure?

by Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW

June 25, 2013

1

If you are depressed, stressed, or grieving, the term “pleasurable activities” may seem oxymoronic – no activity possibly could bring pleasure. Maybe you cannot even remember what gives you pleasure – or what once gave you pleasure no longer does. You may…

“You Can’t Do Everything”: Limitations in Helping a Suicidal Person

by Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW

June 21, 2013

71

Just about every list of “suicide myths” mentions this one: “If a person is serious about killing themselves then there is nothing you can do.” But is it always a myth? In important ways, yes, it is a myth. There are many…