Do suicidal thoughts go away?
I've struggled with depression and anxiety since I was 7 - I'm 26 now. I don't remember a time in my life where I haven't thought about ending my life. I've never gone through the ideation, and I don't believe I would ever do to, for a variety of reasons, but none of them the right reason. I found myself, today, asking a friend is suicidal thoughts are normal? She replied back with no, of course. But idk, do they ever go away? I'm on meds, I've spoken to a counselor. What can I do to make them stop?
@Nostagliax3
Actually, you will find that in general population many people who are not diagnosed with any sort of mental illness will occasionally have fleeting suicidal thoughts. When one is seriously frustrated and fed up an idea that they would be better off dead may briefly pop up in their heads. As long as those thoughts are not persistent, distressing and associated with active plans there is no reason to pathologize them. It is only natural to think about escape routes and ending your life can be one of solutions briefly considered. It can be in fact comforting to know that this option is there and that one is in control of their own destiny.
People that have experienced depression for a long time may well develop a habit to think about suicide at the time of struggle. Rather than it being a brief idea, immediately dismissed, it becomes something that they think about a lot. Like any habit it can be broken. You have more control over your thoughts than you think. Your counselor should be able to advise you on various techniques that can be used to challenge those thoughts and to re-direct yourself to think about something more productive and useful for you.
The short answer is yes. Many people have suicidal thoughts for a time, maybe even over a very long period of time, and then things change and the thoughts go away.
It's impossible in an Internet forum to work out what change might make the thoughts go away in your particular situation. You mention being on meds and speaking to a counsellor, and I think you're right to mention these things because they could be relevant. You could discuss with whoever prescribed the meds whether the meds are right for you, taking into consideration your persistent suicidal thoughts. And you could discuss with your counsellor whether the type of counselling approach being used is really likely to free you from your suicidal thoughts.
Even though you can't resolve all this on the Internet, I do hope you've been able to find listeners here who you can talk to about these things in more detail, and who understand and care. If you'd ever like to talk to me, feel free to send me a message.
@Nostagliax3
