Mood Changes Suicide

Mood changes, hopelessness, and dichotomous thinking are related to suicide. Mood changes can include sadness, anxiety, tension, frustration, anger and shame. It’s normal to experience a range of moods but negative thinking that continues for several weeks causing the person difficulty in functioning can be a sign of depression. People can experience a psyhache which is when they feel that the pain caused by the mood change is too unbearable to handle anymore. The pattern of thinking is the preoccupation with their problems, they lose perspective and they see suicide as the only effective solution to their difficulties. For example Terry was in a car accident and he broke his leg. He developed extreme sadness. He experienced anxiety because he was unable to work and has no health insurance. His bills started to mount causing his to feel frustrated. He became angry wondering why this had to happen to him. He continued to focus on his negative feelings and began to do less than he was really able to do. Over time he started to think about suicide as a way to get his suffering over with.

Hopelessness is seeing no hope for the future. People can develop extreme hopelessness caused by the pain. They feel that the present circumstances or their mood can never change. They are 11 times more likely to commit suicide in hopelessness. Hopelessness is one of the biggest indicators that someone will commit suicide. For example since the accident Terry believes that he may never walk again, work as a roofer or able to do things he could do before that he enjoyed like fix his car. He considers himself in financial ruins and he doesn’t see any hope for the future. He continues to think about suicide as a way out.

Dichotomous thinking is when a person only sees the extremes of a situation instead of the complexities of the situation. Because of Terry’s negative thoughts he believes that because he will not be able to work for 6 weeks he will loss all of his roofing customers. He thinks that this situation will never improve. These thoughts cause Terry to fear his future and it makes him feel like he is a loser. He feels worthless and inadequate. He is now really sure that there is only one answer to the problem, to commit suicide.