Suicide FAQ

General information about suicide and suicide prevention resources

Suicide is a significant cause of death in many western countries, in some cases exceeding deaths by motor vehicle accidents annually. Many countries spend vast amounts of money on safer roads, but very little on suicide awareness and prevention, or on educating people about how to make good life choices.

Attempts at suicide, and suicidal thoughts or feelings are usually a symptom indicating that a person isn't coping, often as a result of some event or series of events that they personally find overwhelmingly traumatic or distressing. In many cases, the events in question will pass, their impact can be mitigated, or their overwhelming nature will gradually fade if the person is able to make constructive choices about dealing with the crisis when it is at its worst. Since this can be extremely difficult, this article is an attempt to raise awareness about suicide, so that we may be better able to recognize and help other people in crisis, and also to find how to seek help or make better choices ourselves.

Help and resource information:

This posting is accompanied by a companion posting containing information primarily about crisis and suicide prevention resources available on the Internet, and other national resources available in various countries. It should be available in the same newsgroup, but is also available from: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/suicide/

The information here is updated periodically, and is intended to be informative rather than authoritative. Readers are encouraged to offer feedback, suggestions, criticisms and any comments on ways you may have found it helpful. The latest version is also archived at: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/suicide/

Here are a number of frequently asked questions to help raise awareness and dispel some of the common myths about suicide:

Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996 by Graham Stoney greyham@research.canon.com.au. This article may be freely redistributed for personal use or via Usenet News provided that this copyright message remains intact. Any other form of commercial distribution requires explicit permission from the author.

Resources section: Copyright 1994-2000 by Graham Stoney greyham@research.canon.com.au. This article may be freely redistributed for personal use or via Usenet News provided that this copyright message remains intact. Any other form of commercial distribution requires explicit permission from the author.