Suicide

Suicidality: Impulsivity vs. Planning

People had a lot to say in response to my recent post Suicidality and Other People’s Perspective, so I thought it would be good to have another down and dirty chat about the reality of dealing with suicidal thinking (and sometimes attempts). In this post, we’ll talk about the tendency to be impulsive and engaging …

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Suicidality and Other People’s Perspective

For some of us, suicidal thinking and perhaps even a history of attempts are part of the mental illness experience. What I wanted to discuss in this post is how much of that suicidality is focused inward and how much relates to our place in our social world. That’s rather vague, and this post’s title …

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What a 988 Suicide Hotline Can (and Can’t) Accomplish

I recently came across a CBC News article titled Mental Health Experts Say Canada Needs a 3-digit Suicide Crisis Hotline. The US just implemented its own 988 lifeline on July 16. The article had some things that made me go hmmm, so I thought I’d write about them. As a bit of background, the federal …

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Is it a problem to talk about successful suicide or failed attempts?

Failed/Successful Suicide: Do Words Matter? What’s Really Failed?

I’ve written before about the issues with language policing, but this is probably one of the more controversial areas where I believe that words matter less than people might think. We aren’t “supposed to” talk about successful suicide or failed suicide attempts. Sara of Surviving Sara brought this up recently, and I told her it’s …

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Mental illness and medical assistance in dying

Medical Assistance in Dying for Mental Illness

Should people with mental illness have access to medical assistance in dying? In Canada, that’s going to happen in the near future, but exactly what it will look like hasn’t been decided yet. This is something I support, but a lot of people don’t, so I thought I’d write about it. A bit of background …

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multiple closed doors representing choice

Is Suicide a Choice? (Regardless, It’s Not Selfish)

This post isn’t about saying that suicide is something people should choose, or that it’s a good choice, or that it’s a choice that they want to have on the menu. I’m writing this because, while it’s much more complicated to get into the element of choice, I believe that it’s inaccurate to say that …

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Mental Health @ Home book review: Hello Cruel World

Book Review: Hello, Cruel World

Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternative to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws by Kate Bornstein was recommended to me by Skinny Hobbit. It’s written for nonconforming “freaks and outlaws,” whether that be in relation to gender, sexual orientation, or anything else that society likes to judge. It has fun illustrations, like a “get out …

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Mental Health @ Home book review: The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook

Book Review: The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook

The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook by Kathryn Hope Gordon aims to support people experiencing thoughts of suicide to help manage their emotional pain, drawing on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) strategies. The book begins by guiding the reader through worksheets to reflect on reactions to the suicidal thoughts and identify risk factors and elements in the environment …

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Addressing the Elevated Suicide Risk Among LGBTQ+ Youth

For Pride Month, I wanted to talk about an important mental health issue facing LGBTQ+ youth. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among North American youth, and the level of risk is even higher in LGBTQ+ youth. That’s not good. Stats Here are a few stats for LGBT youth: LGB youth attempt suicide 5x …

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