Let's Talk About Suicide

First off, my name is Brian and I am a psychology student at the University of Pittsburgh as well as an intern at CONTACT Pittsburgh. When my roommates heard about my internship, we had a long conversation about suicide. We came to the idea that suicide is a subject that simply is not talked about very much, even though we had all had a level of suicidal ideation at some point throughout our lives. Even among controversial topics such as sexual minorities, drugs, and addiction, suicide seems to take a back seat. The American Association of Suicidology reports that among young adults aged 15-19 and 15-24, suicide is the third leading cause of death behind accidents and homicide. In my experience through this age my parents were more likely to speak to me about drugs and sex than suicide.

So let’s talk about suicide. One reason why suicide takes a back seat is the fact that it is heavily stigmatized as something only insecure and weak minded people consider. In a modern society that is largely driven by personal conquest, insecurity and weakness are not accepted and therefore suicidal ideation is not accepted. As mentioned before, my roommates and I agreed that we had all experienced some level of suicidal ideation, ranging from pondering a world without our existence to a clear and thought out plan to end our life. So according to this stigmatization, a lot of us, including my roommates and I, are insecure and weak minded. Maybe we are in some ways, but I don’t think it’s because we’ve thought about suicide.

I think that breaking this stigma surrounding suicide involves talking about suicide openly and honestly. To me, the ability to hold a conversation on suicide with another person reveals strength and security, not weakness. The challenge here resides in starting that conversation. I recently completed training to become a CONTACT Pittsburgh Crisis Line Specialist and even I’ve found some difficulties bringing up suicide to a caller—it’s a hard topic to talk about, but it isn’t impossible. So my challenge to you is to start that conversation with someone. Whether or not you or someone you know is feeling suicidal it can’t hurt to talk about the subject and how you feel about it.

-Brian