Suicide – Fiction and Fact

Fiction	Fact
People who talk about it don’t commit suicide	Most people who kill themselves have given definite warnings of their intentions
Suicidal people are absolutely intent upon dying.	Most suicidal people are ambivalent about living or dying; they gamble with death, but may retain some desire to live.
Suicide happens without warning	Suicidal people often give indications of their thoughts (sometimes before the thoughts have become intentions) by words or actions.
Once a person becomes suicidal he remains suicidal forever.	Suicidal thoughts may return, but they are not permanent, and in some people they may never return.
After a crisis, improvement means that the suicide risk is over.	Many suicides occur in a period of improvement, when the person has the energy and will to turn despairing thoughts into self-destructive action.
Suicide occurs mainly in the poor/rich.	Suicide occurs in all groups of society.
Suicide behaviour is a sign of mental illness.	Suicidal behaviour indicates deep unhappiness but not necessarily mental illness.
You are either the suicidal type or you are not and that is it.	It could happen to anybody.