![]() ![]() ![]() With my therapy clients and in my readings of research studies, I have observed two types of reasons people give for not killing themselves: life-affirming reasons, and fear-based reasons. The answers might fortify you, or even surprise you. “What are your reasons for staying alive?”Īnd if you are reading this post because you yourself have suicidal thoughts, please ask yourself these questions, too. “What has stopped you from killing yourself?”Ī related question to ask, as I discuss in this post, is: So, if you are working with a client who has thoughts of suicide, it can be helpful to ask this simple question: ![]() If nothing deterred them, they would not still be alive. Something has indeed stopped a living and breathing suicidal person from acting on their suicidal thoughts. Otherwise, they might not recognize hopes and fears that are reasons to keep fighting for their life. And if they don’t consider the question already, they should. To the contrary, asking the question “What stops you?” merely involves saying aloud what many suicidal individuals ask themselves constantly. They see this almost as a dare, as if they are saying to a hurting, suicidal person, If you really wanted to kill yourself, you would have done it already. I advise my students to ask their suicidal clients, “What stops you? What stops you from killing yourself?” ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |