Mental health articles

Warning signs of suicide Many risk factors are historical or immutable, and hence not targets of intervention, such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, and family history of psychiatric illness. Therefore attention has focused on elucidating warning signs of acute risk (Rudd, 2003; Rudd et al., in press). Verbal warning signs are as follows: “I’m thinking of ending it all,” “I wish I were dead,” “Life is no longer worth living,” “I just want to go to sleep forever,” and “My family will be better off without me.” Behavioral warning signs among at-risk students include writing or talking about death and dying, seeking means to kill themselves, increased use and abuse of alcohol or other drugs, withdrawing from friends and academics, deterioration of physical appearance or hygiene, putting affairs in order, and stopping the use of prescribed medications. Psychiatric warning signs include exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, increased agitation and anxiety, aggressiveness, unrest and instability, anhedonia, panic attacks, and impulsivity.

Tags: suicide