The following list is from the SPRC Warning Signs page.

Immediate Risk

Some behaviors may indicate that a person is at immediate risk for suicide.

The following three should prompt you to immediately call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or a mental health professional.

• Talking about wanting to die or to kill oneself
• Looking for a way to kill oneself, such as searching online or obtaining a gun
• Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live

Serious Risk

Other behaviors may also indicate a serious risk—especially if the behavior is new; has increased; and/or seems related to a painful event, loss, or change.

• Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain
• Talking about being a burden to others
• Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs
• Acting anxious or agitated; behaving recklessly
• Sleeping too little or too much
• Withdrawing or feeling isolated
• Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
• Displaying extreme mood swings

Precipitating Factors and Warning Signs

Precipitating factors are stressful events that can trigger a suicidal crisis in a vulnerable person. Examples include:

• End of a relationship or marriage
• Death of a loved one
• An arrest
• Serious financial problems

• Warning signs are behaviors that indicate that someone may be at immediate risk for suicide.
   

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

1-800-273-TALK (8255)

The Lifeline is a 24-hour toll-free phone line for people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

An online chat option is also available.

The following list is from the SPRC Risk & Protective Factors page.

Risk Factors

Risk factors are characteristics of a person or his or her environment that increase the likelihood that he or she will die by suicide (i.e., suicide risk).

Major risk factors for suicide include:

• Prior suicide attempt(s)
• Misuse and abuse of alcohol or other drugs
• Mental disorders, particularly depression and other mood disorders
• Access to lethal means
• Knowing someone who died by suicide, particularly a family member
• Social isolation
• Chronic disease and disability
• Lack of access to behavioral health care

Risk Factors Can Vary Across Groups

Risk factors can vary by age group, culture, sex, and other characteristics. For example:

• Stress resulting from prejudice and discrimination (family rejection, bullying, violence) is a known risk factor for suicide attempts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth.
• The historical trauma suffered by American Indians and Alaska Natives (resettlement, destruction of cultures and economies) contributes to the high suicide rate in this population.
• For men in the middle years, stressors that challenge traditional male roles, such as unemployment and divorce, have been identified as important risk factors.

Protective Factors

Protective factors are personal or environmental characteristics that help protect people from suicide.

Major protective factors for suicide include:

• Effective behavioral health care
• Connectedness to individuals, family, community, and social institutions
• Life skills (including problem solving skills and coping skills, ability to adapt to change)
• Self-esteem and a sense of purpose or meaning in life
• Cultural, religious, or personal beliefs that discourage suicide

Myth: Suicidal people are fully intent on dying. Nothing others do or say can help.
Fact: Suicide is preventable. Most suicidal people desperately want to live; they are just unable to see alternatives to their problems.

Myth: Suicide happens without warning.
Fact: There are almost always warning signs, but others are often unaware of the significance of the warnings or unsure about what to do.  Although a significant number of suicide attempts occur within a short period of time following a triggering episode, these individuals may have given prior warning signs.

Myth: People who talk about suicide do not die by suicide.
Fact: Most people who die by suicide have talked about or given definite warning signs of their suicidal intentions.

Myth: Improvement in a suicidal person means the danger is over.
Fact: Many suicides occur several months after the beginning of improvement, when a person has energy to act on suicidal thoughts.

Myth: Suicide is more common in lower socio-economic groups.
Fact: Suicide cuts across social and economic boundaries. However, we know that people with a high school diploma only are overrepresented among those who die by suicide, and this may correlate with a lower economic status.

Myth: All suicidal individuals are depressed.
Fact: We know that about half of people who die by suicide have some type of mental health disorder, depression being prominent among them. Some who die by suicide may have had mental disorders that were not diagnosed. However, many people who die by suicide do not have mental disorders.

Myth: Young people are more likely than old people to die by suicide.
Fact: Teens and young adults aged 15-24 have the highest rates of emergency department visits or hospitalizations due to self-injury. However, older persons are more likely to die by suicide: those 45-54 and those 85+ have the highest rates of death by suicide.

Myth: Asking “Are you thinking about killing yourself?" may trigger a person to make a suicide attempt.
Fact: Asking direct, caring questions about suicide will often minimize a person’s anxiety and act as a deterrent to suicidal behavior.

This page from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) offers definitions of terms commonly used in suicide prevention. Many of these terms are also used in other public health and behavioral health contexts, where they may be defined somewhat differently.

Assessment

A comprehensive evaluation, usually performed by a clinician, to confirm suspected suicide risk in a patient, estimate the immediate danger, and decide on a course of treatment. Also see Screening. To learn more, read SPRC's Suicide Screening and Assessment.

At-risk

Characterized by a high level of risk for suicide and/or a low level of protection against suicide risk factors. An individual displaying warning signs of suicide would also be considered at risk. Note that most members of any at-risk group will not display warning signs, attempt suicide, or die by suicide. Also see Warning signs, Risk factor, and Protective factor.

Behavioral health

Emotional and mental health, and individual actions that affect wellness. Behavioral health problems include substance abuse and addiction, serious psychological distress and mental disorders, and suicidal behaviors. “The term is also used to describe the service systems encompassing the promotion of emotional health; the prevention of mental and substance use disorders, substance use, and related problems; treatments and services for mental and substance use disorders; and recovery support.” [SAMHSA (2011). Leading change: A plan for SAMHSA’s roles and actions 2011–2014. HHS Publication (SMA) 11-4629. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.]

Cluster

“A group of suicides or suicide attempts, or both, that occurs closer together in time and space than would normally be expected in a given community.” [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1988). Recommendations for a community plan for the prevention and containment of suicide clusters. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, August 19, 1988, 37(S-6), 1-12]. Some researchers divide clusters into (1) “mass clusters,” in which “suicides occur closer in time than would be expected by chance following media coverage,” and (2) “point clusters,” which “involve suicides or episodes of suicidal behavior localized in both time and geographic space, often occurring within a small community or institutional setting.” [Niedzwiedz, C., Haw, C., Hawton, K., and Platt, S. (2014). The definition and epidemiology of clusters of suicidal behavior: A systematic review. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 44(5), 569-581.] Also see Contagion.

Connectedness

“The degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated, or shares resources with other persons or groups. This definition encompasses the nature and quality of connections both within and between multiple levels of the social ecology, including connectedness between individuals, connectedness of individuals and their families to community organizations, and connectedness among community organizations and social institutions.” [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Strategic direction for the prevention of suicidal behavior: Promoting individual, family, and community connectedness to prevent suicidal behavior. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Contagion

Suicide risk associated with the knowledge of another person’s suicidal behavior, either first-hand or through the media. Suicides that may be at least partially caused by contagion are sometimes called “copycat suicides.” Contagion can contribute to a suicide cluster. Also see Cluster.

Copycat suicide

See Contagion.

Evidence-based practices

Suicide prevention activities that have been found effective by rigorous scientific evaluation. See Evidence-Based Prevention page.

Gatekeeper training

Programs that teach individuals who routinely have personal contact with many others in their community (i.e., “gatekeepers”) to recognize and respond to people at potential risk of suicide. To learn more, take SPRC's online course, Choosing and Implementing a Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training Program.

Help-seeking

Seeking care or assistance for emotional distress, a mental health condition, or suicidal thoughts.

Indicated intervention

An activity that targets individuals who exhibit symptoms or have been identified by screening or assessment as being at risk for suicidal behavior. For example, safety planning for people who have reported thinking about suicide is an indicated intervention. Also see Selective intervention and Universal intervention.

Intervention

An activity or set of activities designed to decrease risk factors or increase protective factors. Also see Universal intervention, Selective intervention, and Indicated intervention. To learn more, take SPRC's online course, A Strategic Planning Approach to Suicide Prevention.

Lethal means

Methods of suicide with especially high fatality rates (e.g., firearms, jumping from bridges or tall buildings). Also see Means.

Lethal means restriction

See Means restriction.

Lived experience

"Knowledge gained from having lived through a suicide attempt or suicidal crisis." [National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Suicide Attempt Survivors Task Force. (2014). The way forward: Pathways to hope, recovery, and wellness with insights from lived experience. Washington, D.C.: National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.]

Check out our page on Lived Experience to learn more about how we engage people and stories of lived experience in Wisconsin!

Means

Objects, instruments, and methods used by people in suicide attempts (e.g., firearms, poisons, suffocation, jumping from buildings or bridges).

Means restriction

“Techniques, policies, and procedures designed to reduce access or availability to means and methods of deliberate self-harm.” [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. (2012). 2012 National strategy for suicide prevention: Goals and objectives for action. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.]

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI)

Injury inflicted by a person on himself or herself deliberately, but without intent to die.

Postvention

Activities following a suicide to help alleviate the suffering and emotional distress of the survivors, and prevent additional trauma and contagion. See also Suicide loss survivor and Contagion.

Prevention

Activities implemented prior to the onset of an adverse health outcome (e.g., dying by suicide) and designed to reduce the potential that the adverse health outcome will take place.

Protective factor

An attribute, characteristic, or environmental exposure that decreases the likelihood of a person’s developing a disease or injury (e.g., attempting or dying by suicide) given a specific level of risk. For example, depression elevates a person’s risk of suicide, but a depressed person with good social connections and coping skills is less likely to attempt or die by suicide than a person with the same level of depression who lacks social connections and coping skills. Social connections and coping skills are protective factors, buffering the suicide risk associated with depression and thus helping to protect against suicide. Also see Risk factor (below).

Risk factor

“Any attribute, characteristic, or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury” (e.g., attempting or dying by suicide). [World Health Organization. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/risk_factors/en/ ]. Risk factors do not necessarily cause a disease or injury, but can contribute to negative health outcomes like suicide or suicide attempts in combination with other risk factors. For example, depression, access to firearms, and substance abuse disorders (individually and in combination) increase the likelihood of attempting or dying by suicide, although most people with these risk factors do not attempt suicide. Risk factors should not be confused with warning signs. Also see Protective factor and Warning signs.

Safe messaging

Media or personal communications about suicide or related issues that do not increase the risk of suicidal behavior in vulnerable people, and that may increase help-seeking behavior and support for suicide prevention efforts. To learn more, go to the National Action Alliance Framework for Successful Messaging and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide.

Screening

A procedure in which a standardized tool, instrument, or protocol is used to identify individuals who may be at risk for suicide. Also see Assessment. To learn more, read SPRC's Suicide Screening and Assessment.

Selective intervention

Activities targeting a group whose members are generally at higher than average risk for an adverse health condition (e.g., suicidal behaviors) regardless of whether individual members of the group display symptoms or have been screened for the condition. For example, suicide prevention interventions targeted at victims of intimate partner violence is a selective intervention because intimate partner violence is associated with increased risk of suicidal behaviors. Also see Indicated intervention and Universal intervention.

Suicidal behaviors

Suicide, suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, and planning/preparation done with the intent of attempting or dying by suicide.

Suicidal crisis

A suicide attempt or an incident in which an emotionally distraught person seriously considers or plans to imminently attempt to take their own life.

Suicidal ideation

“Thoughts of engaging in suicide-related behavior.” [Crosby, A.E., Ortega, L., Melanson, C. (2011). Self-directed violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements. Version 1.0. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.]

Suicide

“Death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior.” [Crosby, A.E., Ortega, L., and Melanson, C. (2011). Self-directed violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements. Version 1.0. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.]

Suicide assessment

See Assessment.

Suicide attempt

“A nonfatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior. A suicide attempt may or may not result in injury.” [Crosby, A.E., Ortega, L., Melanson, C. (2011). Self-directed violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements. Version 1.0. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.]

Suicide attempt survivor

A person who has attempted suicide, but did not die. Also see Suicide loss survivor (below)

Find resources for attempt survivors here. 

Suicide loss survivor

A person who has lost a family member, friend, classmate, or colleague to suicide. Sometimes called “suicide survivor,” although the term “suicide loss survivor” is often favored to avoid confusion with "suicide attempt survivor."

Find resources for loss survivors here.

Suicide plan

An individual’s thinking about a suicide attempt that includes elements such as a timeframe, method, and place.

Suicide screening

See Screening.

Suicide survivor

See Suicide loss survivor.

Universal intervention

An activity designed to prevent negative health outcomes (e.g., suicide attempts and suicides) in an entire population regardless of the risk status of members of that population. For example, a middle school life skills curriculum that includes coping and help-seeking skills is a universal intervention, since it would be directed at all the students in that middle school regardless of their level of risk for suicide. Also see Indicated intervention and Selective intervention.

Warning signs

Behaviors and symptoms that may indicate that a person is at immediate or serious risk for suicide or a suicide attempt. To learn more, visit our Warning Signs for Suicide page.

The SPRC maintains regularly updated data on the magnitude and patterns of suicidal behavior in the United States. See their Scope of the Problem page for more information. 

Suicide Deaths in the United States

Suicide rates by sex, homicide and suicide, and the geographic distribution of suicide.

Suicide by Age

Suicide rates by age, trends over time, and the leading causes of death by age group.

Suicidal Thoughts and Suicide Attempts

Rates of suicidal ideation and attempts by age and sex.

Means of Suicide

Data on the methods people use to end their lives.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities

Suicide rates and patterns among racial and ethnic groups.

Costs of Suicide

The costs of suicidal behaviors—and the savings that can result from preventing these behaviors—can help convince policymakers and other stakeholders that suicide prevention is an investment that will save dollars as well as lives.