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Writer's pictureDawn Helmrich
Oct 222 min read

Talking About Suicide and Suicidal Ideation Is a Good Thing

Trigger Warning: This content contains discussion of suicide and suicidal thoughts.


Text with headshot of Dawn Helmrich. Headline: "Shining Light on Shadows: My Son’s Struggle With Social Anxiety and the Difficulty of Getting Help" Text: "One day, my son told me, the world was not set up for kids like him. Kids that have social anxiety."

Suicidal ideation is something that we don’t really talk about. The idea of suicide makes people really uncomfortable. I think one of the most important parts of reducing stigma in mental health is being open and honest about this topic.


I know that after I was raped, having done everything in those moments to stay alive, I couldn’t really understand why I was having all of these thoughts about dying. I remember one time driving myself to a set of train tracks and sitting on them, willing a train to come and plow me over.


Over the course of many years, I have not only thought about but planned out suicide attempts. Something always stopped me from doing anything, but the thoughts were pretty intense.


 

I will share my experience with suicidal ideation on a new show that I launched with Neil Parekh, “Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health” Thursday, October 24 at 6pm CT / 7pm ET. Cindy Hsu, a WCBS-TV News Anchor in New York, will be our guest.


You can watch the live show or the recording on Facebook, Twitter*, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram* or Neil's website.


*We won't know the exact urls for Twitter and Instagram until we go live. These links go to Neil's Twitter and my Instagram.

 

Talking about and acknowledging that suicidal ideation and suicide attempts might actually help people who are facing heavy bouts of depression. I remember feeling very alone, scared and weak when I had these thoughts. I made lots of assumptions about people who fought this battle with suicide in their heads and they were never good assumptions.


I think there is this misunderstanding that by talking about suicide we might encourage people to think about it. Trust me, if someone is thinking about suicide they will not be prompted to go through with it because you have mentioned the word. Most likely the opposite. It might give that person the courage to speak up about it and get help. 


If you or someone you know have had thoughts of hurting themselves, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 988 for 24/7 free and confidential support. You can also visit 988lifeline.org.


Title Card for Show. Text and headshots of the co-hosts and guest. Headline: "Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health" Copy: "Ep. 7 Kate Easton Parenting a Child with Mental Health Challenges Thurs., May 9 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 4pm PT"


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