In need of help and advice
This is going to be long and windy, but I really need to get this out there to someone and get some sort of advice. For some background, I am a high school student living in America. I was in an accident when I was about 11, and, a few years later, I began to develop severe depression. Ive been struggling with it for a long time, but I have a psychiatrist, a therapist, many medications, and my family supporting me. Nevertheless, I have recently been struggling with one thing: suicidal thoughts.
For clarification, I am not in any real danger currently. My family is home, and I do not really have the means to do anything with, nor am I really feeling like killing myself currently… sort of. This is where my problem lies: I just constantly feel like death is the better option. No matter what Im doing, no matter where I am, its almost always a nagging thought at the back of my mind. More often than not, its not so much I want to kill myself as it is Im okay if a car were to hit me right now or I wish someone would come up and mug me and shoot me. I know enough about depression to know that that type of thing still constitutes as suicidal thoughts, but, once again, I have no intention of really harming myself.
The problem is that the thoughts are just constantly there, and I am seriously worried about myself. I want to get better, to feel better, normal even, but thats very hard to do when every time you cross the road, your legs move a little bit slower in vain hopes that some irresponsible driver will knock your corpse into the pavement, or that some crazed gun-wielding maniac will rush into your school just to shoot you. Its just so constant and omnipresent and its really weighing down on me. I know that this isnt normal or healthy– I really do, I swear! I just… dont really know how to tackle this kind of issue. My heart feels super heavy every time I think about this, so I really dont want this to continue, hence why Im here.
And, just because I feel that this is an important note to consider, I am a multiple attempt survivor… sort of. I tried once two years ago and again a year and a half ago, but both times I chickened out (for lack of better term) at the last minute. Both times were attempted overdoses, but I stopped before I could take more than a couple of pills, and the worst thing I felt was drowsiness. Again, I dont see this happening again anytime soon, as I dont have the means nor the motive to do so, but I felt that I should put that out there as well.
As for why Im telling this on an anonymous forum rather than to my family or my therapist… well, its kind of complicated. Ive had similar conversations with my mom and dad before and both times just ended kind of poorly and awkwardly. They tried to help, I know they honestly did, but neither of them has dealt with these kinds of things before, and their advice was shabby at best. My therapist and psychiatrist arent really available for me at the moment, either, though I do plan on expressing these thoughts to them the next time I see one of them. I didnt really see this as urgent enough to need to chat on a crisis text line or anything (once again, not really in danger at the moment) but I did need to get this off of my chest and ask for some serious advice here.
Im honestly at a loss for what to do. I mean, the therapy and meds are working! My mood has been improved, and Ive felt pretty productive and good overall! But this one issue has been nagging at me for ages now, and I really just… want to feel better.
Anyway, Im open to any and all advice and suggestions. I just really, really dont know what to do.
@Viri847426 It's surprising that you say you have a psychiatrist and a therapist, but later you say they are not available. It sounds like they need to become available to help you with these suicidal thoughts, and I wonder if you have any way to arrange for that to happen.
It's also surprising that you say you are taking many medications, because suicidal thoughts are a well known side effect of some of the common medications for depression, particularly in young people. If you are taking that type of medication it would be usual for a professional to be monitoring your thoughts quite closely to ensure that you are not at risk in this way.
I agree with you that vague thoughts of suicide are not necessarily an urgent risk. But I also agree that there is some risk, as you have described. Maybe, if you feel a crisis hotline is not appropriate just now, then a warmline might be worth trying. There's a list at warmline.org.
If you'd ever like to chat with me about your situation, feel free to click on my profile and message me.
Charlie