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suicidedata

14.3 million
US adults

report having thoughts about suicide each year. Thoughts of suicide are far more common than most people realize.

Call or text 988What helps

What causes suicidal thoughts?

It is never just one thing.

The reasons someone may want to die by suicide are complex, multi-factorial, and deeply personal. But most reasons fall into one of three categories: things that make you feel like you don’t belong, things that make you feel like a burden, and things that make you feel stuck or trapped.

  • Belongingness

    Being new in a group, having a break-up, singled out as being different (race, gender, sexual orientation)

    Not belonging is the sense of being on the outside of things — that no one really knows you, or that you are treated as an outsider. Feeling isolated and disconnected from people in your life.

  • Burdensomeness

    Difficulty asking for help, losing a job, low income, falling behind in school

    Feeling like you are a burden comes from a sense of shame and embarrassment with needing and wanting help — feeling like you are too much, need too much or ask for too much.

  • Entrapment

    Feeling hopeless about the future and powerless to change things

    Entrapment is about feeling trapped in bad stuff that makes the future feel hopeless — like something is always going to be this way and there is nothing you can do to change it or get out of it.

And in the other direction, life feels worth living when you feel like you belong, you can ask for and get help easily without shame, and that your future can be anything you want it to be.

From the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (Van Orden & Joiner), the Three-Step Theory (Klonsky & May), and the Integrated Motivational–Volitional model (O’Connor & Kirtley).

Risk factors

What
makes
thoughts
worse?

  • Knowing someone who died by suicide

    Losing someone to suicide can bring grief, guilt, and hopelessness. Exposure to suicide can also make it feel more familiar or imaginable.

  • Hearing suicide romanticized

    When suicide is portrayed as noble, romantic, or inevitable, it can influence how we understand it—especially when we are struggling.

  • Hearing suicide blamed on one thing

    Suicide is rarely caused by one thing. Focusing on a single cause can make people facing similar struggles feel that suicide is inevitable.

  • Feeling pressure to be perfect

    Impossible expectations can leave us feeling isolated, inadequate, or trapped.

  • Having lived through many difficult experiences

    Past trauma and adversity can make new challenges feel overwhelming or bring old pain back to the surface.

  • Feeling like there are no options

    During intense distress, our thinking can narrow until death feels like the only option. Support can help create space to see other possibilities.

Things that genuinely help

What helps?

Evidence-backed things that actually help during hard times for people that have thoughts about suicide.

  • Talking about it

    People who have had suicidal thoughts often say being able to tell the whole story of how they feel and being actually listened to really helps.

    Call or text 988

    Also by text to 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org — any hour of any day.

  • Having a crisis plan

    In a crisis it can be hard to remember what to do and what has helped before. That’s why it helps to write out your plan ahead of time.

    Make your plan

    The Stanley-Brown Safety Planning template, via the 988 Lifeline. Print it, fill it out, give copies to people you trust.

  • Reasons for living

    It’s easy to see only what’s going wrong and lose sight of what makes life worth living. It can help to make your own list of things that make your life feel worth it — and to remind yourself during dark times.

    Start your list

    The Reasons for Living Inventory, a 72-item list to get you started.

If the thoughts are yours

How to tell someone.

You don’t need the right words, and you don’t need to explain it well. Choose a trusted person, preferably an adult who knows you — and say it plainly:

“I’ve been having thoughts of suicide, and I need to tell someone. All I need is someone to listen.”

Talking all the way through it can really take the pressure off, and can prevent the need for higher level care later on.

If the person is not able to listen well, or to offer support that feels good to you, that is okay. Find someone else who can. If there’s no one available right now, call or text 988, and a trained adult will be more than happy to listen.

Fuller guidance: AFSP.

If you’re worried about someone

How to ask them.

Five strategies on how to start hard conversations with people you care about when you think they may have suicidal thoughts.

  1. 01Encourage BelongingLet them know that they are valued and important and that they matter.
  2. 02Reduce BurdensomenessTell them that it’s good to ask for help, and that the people that love them are more than happy to help.
  3. 03Be DirectSay the words plainly: “Are you thinking about suicide?” Asking does not plant the idea — it can help them open up and finally tell someone.
  4. 04Listen & NormalizeReally listen. Then, let them know that lots of people have thoughts like these, and they are not bad or wrong for thinking about it.
  5. 05Give HopeRemind them that they are not trapped in this; with support, things can and do change for the better — start with the 988 call or text line for support.

Fuller guidance at NIMH.

Asking for help is an act of bravery.

Saying it out loud—to a friend, a clinician, or a crisis line—can feel like a big risk. You might worry they’ll overreact, underestimate what you’re feeling, or see you differently afterward.

That fear is normal. But talking to someone is worth the risk.

Call or text 988

Want to learn more?

Check your facts.

Improve your understanding of statistics, research and news to help us reduce stigma and prevent suicide deaths.