I feel suicidal - what can I do?

It's not surprising that up to 80% of suicides are associated with clinical depression. Let's look at what clinical depression does to you:

• It leaves you with no energy, so you feel helpless in tackling tasks or problems
• It makes you feel as if things will never get better (this is called a 'stable' attributional style)
• It can make you feel physicall unwell
• It can make you feel guilty, so not only are you depressed, but you feel guilty for feeling depressed!
• It warps your memory so you feel as if your whole life has been a failure and that others would be better off without you

But remember this...

This is depression talking. It stops you from seeing things as they really are. It is if it steals your history, your present and your future, and plays them back to you painted black. Depression stops you being yourself. It stops you seeing, remembering and thinking clearly.

And depression will go away

Think about this. If you had taken a pill a week ago, which someone said would make you feel bad for 2 months, how would you feel about the next 7 weeks? Bad probably, but not hopeless, because you would know it was going to get better. Depression will get better too.

There is good reason for hope

Even if you have been searching for a long time for a way to feel better, there is help. Recent advances in our understanding of depression are making it easier and easier to treat to it won't come back. If you haven't done so already, go through the Depression Learning Path. It wil take about an hour. If you don't feel up to it at the moment, bookmark this page and come back to it when you do.

Thinking of suicide is natural when you feel trapped in a horrible and inescapable situation.

It is depression that makes you feel this way.

Don't let depression cheat you and others out of the rest of your life.

If you need to speak to someone now, go to one of these depression helplines site - there are numbers for most countries.