Stopping the Spiral of Suicidal Thoughts
(The following content could be triggering for those with suicidal thoughts. In addition, no part of this content should be considered a replacement or substitution for professional mental health treatment.)
Experiencing suicidal thoughts can be frightening and painful. More than anything, it often feels like they will never go away. One of the worst things about suicidal thoughts is when they latch onto a problem in your life and cause you to spiral into hopeless thinking.
From my experience, this latching-on can affect a wide variety of problems, however seemingly minor and insignificant. Once I start to dwell on the problem, other issues pop into my mind, followed by the thought of “How am I going to deal with this?”
As if on cue, suicidal thoughts will then creep in.
It’s obvious that ruminating and replaying your problems over and over isn’t helpful, and it’s also clear that suicidal thoughts just make this spiraling worse. But what can be done to stop it? What can help prevent things from getting worse?
Like many things with mental health, a lot depends on the person. What works for someone might not work for you. For instance, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard suggestions to visualize a stop sign whenever I’m ruminating. Nevertheless, trying to envision a stop sign has yet to stop me from spiraling.
So what follows definitely isn’t advice. Instead, it’s more along the lines of “here is what potentially could help stop a spiral.”
- First and most importantly, there’s outside help to consider. You could reach out to a crisis line (such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) or talk to a mental health professional about what you’re going through. Therapists are there to listen to you and help you live your best life.
- Be mindful. Just noticing that you’re spiraling into suicidal thoughts can be a useful way to prevent things from getting worse. You can say to yourself, “Oh, my mind is spiraling again,” or “My brain is feeling hopeless.” This can also put some distance between yourself and your issues and thoughts.
- Consider apps. Many mental health apps are free or low-cost and can make a meaningful difference in your everyday life. A useful one for stopping a suicidal thoughts spiral could be Pixel Thoughts, which lets you type in a thought and then you watch it slowly disappear.
- Remind yourself that your value as a person isn’t defined by these problems.
- Take a (mental) step back. Similar to being mindful, taking a step back will allow you to see a bigger-picture perspective on what’s going on. What does taking a step back look like? It could be going on a walk to give your mind something else to focus on instead of ruminating. Or it could be talking to a friend about your thoughts to gain a different POV on your issues.
- Focus on one issue at a time. I’ve found it helpful to sloooooooow down and try to just think about one problem instead of letting my mind rush onto the next one, and the one after that (and the one after that). That way, I don’t feel overwhelmed, and I’m less prone to have hopeless thoughts.
- As always, practice self-compassion. I’d guess that you’d most likely be kind to someone that was facing spiraling thoughts. So, as hard as it may be, show that same kindness to yourself. To be honest, self-compassion is the biggest roadblock to hopeless thoughts that I know of. Not sure where to get started with self-compassion? I’d highly recommend The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Drs. Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer.
