It is not uncommon to have suicidal thoughts if your life seems overwhelming and you do not feel that you have enough desire or resources to cope. Suicidal ideation can provide peace of mind and an escape from the difficulties. Very soon, individual is ready again to engage with the world and their stress-related suicidal thinking subsided.
It may be that suicidal thinking is persistent and the thought that there can be a state where mental suffering and struggles go away, can be perpetually reassuring. This function that suicidal thinking serves, points at what an individual is truly looking for – peace, comfort, nothingness, relief and surprisingly, happiness since the thought of the suicide releases dopamine, hormone of happiness. The search for this state is intense and to achieve it, one is ready to give up everything. In the process of this search what remains unprocessed, is that it is a final and one will not be there to experience it. It may be that due to particular early experiences, one feels unable to achieve the state of peace in any other way than suicide.
Seeking solutions to the suffering is an active problem solving and can be contrasted to passivity of depression. The individual may or may not be aware that they are generating energy to find a solution to their pain. With the help of psychoanalytic psychotherapy this energy can be redirected towards more productive ways of getting the desired state of freedom from suffering.
You may or may not feel that you want to get better and this will be respected in therapy. You may choose instead, to focus on the understanding of what led to the experience of such emotional pain as well as understanding what pain is in itself, so that decisions you may take in the future are conscious and fully informed.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy will be tailored to your particular needs and mental state. You may want to spend a session without saying a word or lay on the couch in the presence of your trusted therapist. You may want to tell your therapist what you know about yourself and your early experiences and see whether together, you may come to better understanding of your life and your pain.
It is not uncommon that individuals with persistent suicidal ideation suffered devastating losses at the very beginning of their life. It may not be immediately apparent, and the individual may even believe that they had great beginnings. This often happens when someone is so used to the suffering that they cannot tell the difference. Losses may include physical or emotional events during early childhood. These can include physical absence of the parent, neglect, trauma, abuse, emotional absence or lack of connection with the caregivers. When fundamental connection with the caregiver is broken very early on and emotional needs are not met, this creates long lasting disinterest and disappointment in life, as well as deep loneliness.
Due to unique circumstances in one’s life, suicidal individual lacks emotional experience of overcoming losses and being comfortable with mental pain. Dialectical behavioural therapy helps to discover dormant resources necessary to learn being comfortable with difficult feelings and live fulfilling life despite them.
With the help of cognitive behavioural therapy, you will be invited to design daily routine, rediscover your life mission, schedule pleasurable activities, learn to decrease focus on your suffering, implement strategies to reduce suicidal thinking, learn more about your thoughts, acquire necessary social skills or shift any beliefs that contribute to your state of mind.
Give yourself a chance. Get in touch now.