Is Suicide the Answer? 

Is Suicide the Answer?
State of Despair and Depression

Is Suicide the Answer?

Do you feel hopeless and depressed? Are you experiencing suicidal thoughts and struggling to cope with everything happening around you?

Are you grieving the loss of a loved one and wishing to take your life in hopes of being reunited with them? Do phrases like "I would be better off dead" or "All I want to do is sleep and never wake up" sound familiar to you?

If you've experienced any of these feelings or are seriously considering suicide, it's important to reevaluate your situation.

In moments of extreme emotional distress—after a devastating breakup, financial collapse, a serious diagnosis, mental health crisis, or trauma—suicide can feel like the only option left. The pain becomes so overwhelming that ending it by any means seems logical, even merciful.

But here's a crucial distinction: wanting the pain to end is not the same as wanting life itself to end.

Committing suicide is not the solution. It is a grave mistake to think that your suffering will end through suicide. While the body may die, the suffering does not necessarily cease. Remember, although the body may perish, the spirit lives on.

NOTE: 

Suicidal feelings are a signal of distress in the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. They are not a moral failure, spiritual weakness, or character flaw.

Immediate Safety Plan:
What to Do Right Now if You Feel on the Edge

Safety Plan:

If you have a plan of self harm, access to lethal means, and intent to act today, stop reading and get help immediately:

• United States: Call or text 988 (24/7, free, confidential) or call 911 for life-threatening emergencies
• United Kingdom: Call Samaritans at 116 123 or 999/112 for emergencies
• Other countries: Search “[your country] suicide crisis line” for local resources

Immediate practical steps:

• Promise yourself to wait 24 hours before acting
• Remove or separate yourself from lethal means (medications, weapons, ligatures)
• Stay with or contact a trusted person—do not isolate
• Avoid alcohol and drugs during a crisis; they increase impulsivity and darken mood
• Go to your nearest emergency room if you cannot keep yourself safe

Your only job right now is to survive the next hour. Then the next. Help exists, and this feeling will shift.

NOTE: If you are an American veteran, you can reach out to the Veterans Crisis Line: phone-988 and then 1, text-838255- chat-Veteran Crisis Line Chat (Confidential Support).

A trained crisis counselor can help create a safety plan and connect you or your loved one with ongoing mental health treatment.

Warning Signs
Suicide Prevention

Recognizing warning signs of a suicidal crisis can save lives—whether in yourself or others.

Behavioral warning signs:

• Talking about wanting to die by suicide or being a burden
• Withdrawing from friends and family
• Giving away possessions
• Searching for methods online (reckless driving, lethal means)
• Drastic mood shifts, especially sudden calm after a long period of depression
• Self harm behaviors
• Increased substance use (drugs, alcohol)

Emotional warning signs:

• Intense emotional pain that feels unbearable
• Extreme distress or hopelessness
• Feeling trapped with no way out
• Shame about mental health problems
• Emotional crisis that doesn't resolve

When you notice these warning signs, get help IMMEDIATELY for yourself or someone engaging suicidal ideation. 

Young people and adults alike may hide their thoughts of suicide, so pay attention to changes even without explicit statements.

-Suicide Prevention-

Why Suicide Can Feel Like an Answer: The Physical and Emotional Load

Suicidal thoughts often emerge when the brain and body are under extreme strain. Chronic stress, insomnia, trauma, intense emotional pain, and chronic pain narrow a person's ability to see alternatives. The mind becomes rigid, trapped in all-or-nothing thinking.

Physical factors that intensify despair:

• Chronic illness and long-term pain conditions
• Sleep deprivation and hormonal changes
• Traumatic brain injury or neurological conditions
• Inflammation that affects mood regulation
• Mental illness and mental disorders

Mental illness and mental disorders like major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and substance abuse alter brain chemistry and stress systems. These conditions make death feel like relief rather than destruction.

Consider the 2010–2024 period: the COVID-19 pandemic intensified loneliness and disrupted routines, contributing to a youth mental health crisis. Insomnia, grief, and isolation biologically intensified suicidal ideation across populations.

The core insight here is that feeling suicidal is almost always a warning sign about wanting an end to emotional pain, overload, or shame—not a clear-sighted choice against life. This distinction matters for compassion, both toward yourself and others.

Suicide Forest in Japan

Aokigahara Forest, commonly known as the Suicide Forest, is located in Japan. It is infamous for the high number of suicides that occur there, serving as a poignant reminder of the desperation that can drive individuals to such tragic actions.

Between 2013 and 2015, over 100 suicides occurred in Aokigahara forest. To deter people from coming to the area for this purpose, the Japanese government stopped releasing statistics on suicides there.

In response, signs have been placed at the entrance and along the trails, urging visitors to reconsider their choices and to reflect on the emotional pain their loss would cause their families.
One such sign reads: "Your life is a precious gift from your parents. Please think about your parents, siblings, and children. Don't keep your troubles to yourself. Talk about what you're going through."

Wanting the Pain to Stop

Individuals who end their lives often do so out of desperation, feeling a profound lack of faith and hope. They perceive total darkness ahead with no light to guide them. For them, suicide appears to be the only solution to their problems. These individuals believe that by ending their lives, they can attain the peace they desperately seek and escape the immense physical, mental, or spiritual pain they have been enduring.

However, when they end their lives, they realize that things are not as expected. They transition from one form of darkness to another form. Upon realizing what they have done, they wish to return to their physical body but cannot.
Due to free will, many reincarnate to make things right and complete what they started but could not finish.

Many spirits who have committed suicide and subsequently reincarnated often choose to work in helping professions, such as mental health counseling, therapy, and healing. They possess a strong desire to assist those suffering because they have an inner, deep understanding of what others are experiencing that goes beyond their physical experience.

Practical Steps Toward Healing: Body, Mind, and Spirit

Moving away from suicide as an “answer” involves integrated healing across physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Change often takes weeks to months, so patience matters.

Physical steps:

• Schedule a medical and psychiatric evaluation
• Address sleep hygiene and nutrition
• Reduce or stop substance use with professional help
• Consider evidence-based treatments (CBT, DBT, medication)
• Treat chronic pain conditions actively

Mental and emotional steps:

• Seek individual or group therapy
• Learn coping skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance
• Build a daily routine that anchors your nervous system
• Develop a safety plan with trusted contacts and crisis numbers

Spiritual steps:

• Engage in prayer, meditation, or mindful walking in nature
• Journal about purpose and values
• Participate in a compassionate faith or spiritual community that understands mental health
• Connect with something larger than yourself (service, creativity, justice)

Small, consistent actions—a 10-minute walk, one honest text to a friend, one therapy session—cumulatively shift your trajectory away from despair.

Some hospital programs and community centers now combine counseling, peer support, and chaplaincy services, offering integrated care that addresses the self as a whole person.

Supporting Someone Who Believes Suicide Is the Answer

If you're worried about a friend, partner, sibling, or child who is voicing suicidal thoughts, your presence matters more than perfect words.

What to say:

Ask directly and calmly: “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” Research from 2000–2023 proves this does not increase risk factor—instead, it reduces distress and increases the chance they'll seek help.

Listen without arguing, minimizing, or panicking. Your job is to hear them, not fix them.

What to do:

• Stay with the person if the risk factor is high
• Remove or secure lethal means when possible
• Contact emergency services or crisis lines together
• Reach out to family members or trusted community members with their consent
• Offer spiritual support if appropriate—sitting quietly, praying together, or accompanying them to a trusted spiritual leader

For yourself:

Do not carry this alone. Seek your own support through friends, a therapist, or a support group. Preventing burnout protects both you and your loved ones.

Reaching Out

If you know someone who has died by suicide, take a moment to pray for their spirit.

If you know someone who is deeply suffering from the loss of a loved one who committed suicide, please reach out to them. Listen to their feelings and provide comfort, as no one should have to feel alone in their grief.

If you know someone who is depressed and experiencing suicidal thoughts, it's important to talk with them about suicide prevention. Encourage them to seek professional help and support them in their journey toward healing.

Finding Meaning After a Suicidal Crisis

People can and do build meaningful, even beautiful lives after periods when they seriously considered or attempted suicide.

Consider this: someone who survived a 2022 attempt might now be working in peer support, raising children, creating art, or advocating for suicide prevention. Many survivors develop a deeper sense of compassion for others in pain and describe their crisis as a “turning point” rather than just a tragedy.

Recovery often includes rediscovering values—creativity, service, justice, love—and building a life that better aligns with those values physically and spiritually.

Your story is not finished. Your presence in the world may matter in ways you cannot yet see.

Allan Kardec

“God forbids a man to shorten his life by committing suicide.

If a man takes his life, he automatically becomes a spirit in darkness.”

(The Gospel According To Allan Kardec).

Divaldo Franco

“If your day appears to be gloomy and frightening, wait for the morrow. Wait a little longer…Divine Providence has ways of which you are completely unaware for clarifying things and removing errors and difficulties.

If your suffering seems unbearable, think of Jesus and His utter humiliation on the cross. He trusted God”

(After The Storm by Divaldo P. Franco and Spirit Guide Joanna De Angelis)

Prayer For Those Who Committed Suicide

Prayer for Suicide Death

We know, my God, what fate awaits those who disregard your laws by shortening their days upon earth. But, we also know that your mercy knows no bounds. Please let your mercy flow towards the soul of___________________, may our prayers and your empathy sweeten the bitter taste of the fate he is experiencing for not having had the guts to see his trials through.

Good Spirits whose mission it is to assist the downtrodden, take him under your wing, inspire him to repent from his faults and show him the light towards God. Amen

(Helping Yourself With Selected Prayers Volume 2).

Prayer for Suicide Death

Bless, O God of eternal life,

all who have died by their own hand.

Grant them peace
from their inner turmoil
and the compassion of your love.
Comfort those who mourn
their loved ones.
Strengthen them to face the questions of pain,
the guilt and anger,
the irreparable loss.
Help us to reach out in love
to others who prefer death
to the choices of life
and to their families who grieve.
Amen.

Vienna Cobb Anderson

Prayer for a Family Member Who Has Lost a Loved One to Suicide

Most Gracious God, be with the friends and family of ____________ in their shock and grief over the sudden loss of their loved one.
We pray to you, O God.

Comfort them with the knowledge that you were with ____________ in (his/her) despair, and you knew the depth of (his/her) pain.
We pray to you, O God.

Sustain them with your limitless love when feelings of self-doubt, guilt, anger, or blame threaten to overcome them.
We pray to you, O God.

Hold them close to your heart in their dark night of endless questions and endless tears.
We pray to you, O God.

Remove from them all feelings of shame, for they and ____________ are all beloved children, created in your glorious image.
Hear our prayer, O God.

Help them to forgive themselves as they remember the last days and moments of ____________'s life, that they may be healed of the wounds inflicted to their own body, mind, spirit.
Hear our prayer, O God.

Guide them in the midst of their confusion and bewilderment as they seek to come to terms with the choice ____________ made.
Hear our prayer, O God.

Surround them today and always with the love of their family, friends, and communities in the aftermath of this tragic death.
Hear our prayer, O God.

– adapted from the litany by the Reverend Elizabeth Rankin Geitz in Women's Uncommon Prayers edited by Elizabeth Rankin Geitz and others

Don't Go...Stay Awhile 

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A Prayer for Suicide Prevention and Overcoming Suicidal Thoughts

Father God,

The darkness has taken hold of me, and I can't find my way back to the light.

In this moment, ending it all seems like the best option, the only option, the only way to escape.

Yet, there is something in me that wants your light to snuff out the darkness.

So I ask, Lord, that you would do just that. You are the only light that can shine in the darkness.

I know when I’m consumed with thoughts of death I’m believing lies from the enemy.

I ask Lord that you would remind me of these truths: 

when I feel alone, you are with me;

when I feel invisible, you see me;

when I feel worthless, my value is knowing you and being known by you

(Crosswalk.com Contributor Beth Ann Baus)

Prayer for Those Facing Desperation

Dear God,

I pray that you provide hope and strength to those who have lost their way and feel that ending their lives is the only solution.

Please help them to see the light and give them the courage to fight the temptation to take their own lives.

May they find comfort in knowing that things will get better and that their suffering is only temporary.

Please guide them toward the path of healing and give them the will to live.

Amen.

Prayer for Those Contemplating Suicide

Most loving and forgiving God,

hear our prayers for all
who seek to end their life
by their own hand.

The despair is too great,
the loneliness is unbearable,
the inability to share
thoughts and feelings overwhelming,
the seeming lack of options a dead end.

Bless them with the strength of love
to meet each day with new courage;
friendships to bring moments of joy
in their days of anguish;
and hope for the future.
Amen.

(www.beliefnet.com)

Excerpt From Spiritual Tales Book

 Chapter 8 -What Goes Around Comes Around

"My only option was to end my suffering by committing suicide.

"I pretended to be sick and waited for everyone to leave the house.  

"I grabbed a telephone cord, stood on a chair, firmly tied one end of the cord around my neck, attached the other end to a ceiling fan, and kicked the chair away.

"Since I was very thin, my weight did not affect the stability of the fan. It took a few minutes before my body shut down.

"It was an agonizing horrible death.  

“I always read and believed that when a person died, he or she would go to heaven and live in paradise. All emotional anguish and pain would be left behind. You would get a clean slate and live happily ever after.

However, the fact of the matter was another reality.  Instead of entering a heavenly realm, I ended in an abyss of darkness..."

SPIRITUAL BOOKS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM. BUY NOW.

Summary

Is suicide the answer to overcoming deep pain and despair? The answer is a resounding no. Rather than providing a solution, suicide merely shifts an individual from a state of depression to an even darker place, one devoid of hope and possibility.

Many who have communicated from the afterlife share chilling insights: when a person takes their own life, they often come to a profound realization of what they have done. In that moment, they desire to return, to undo their choice and experience life once more. Unfortunately, it is too late; the opportunity to change their circumstances has vanished. Instead of viewing suicide as an escape, it is crucial to seek help and support, as there are always paths to healing and recovery.

Remember, help is available. You are not alone. There is no shame in seeking help. It is not a sign of weakness but of courage.

Don't avoid the warning signs. Getting help immediately:

Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

1- (U.S.)Call or text 988 -Veterans Affairs Crisis Line 988, press 1

2-Nearest emergency room -Go directly

3-Trained crisis counselor- Through 988 or local mental health treatment centers

(Confidential Support).

A trained crisis counselor can help create a safety plan and connect you or your loved one with ongoing mental health treatment.

Your mental health and your life matter!

Recommended Reading

Memoirs of a Suicide by Yvonne A. Pereira

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