Don’t suicides happen fast, and usually as the result of one sudden traumatic event, so that it is hard to prevent them?

Suicides can appear to happen fast, or “out of nowhere,” when we have not noticed any indications of a person’s suicidality. Although most people present a range of indicators to the people around them, few of us have been educated to recognize these signs and we miss them.  People are often careful about how they tell about suicide because of fear and stigma, hence these signs are often subtle and are easily missed. 

Suicides are also rarely the result of a single traumatic loss or change. Usually, there are many contributing factors and events that have developed or occurred over a period of time. A sudden traumatic event may be the ‘activator’ event that moves a person to end their life, but it is unlikely the only cause.

It is likely that many suicides could be prevented if we educated ourselves about the immediate, short term, and long term indicators of suicide thoughts, as well as how to reach out and get effective help for someone who is letting us know they are in serious distress.