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Happy World Suicide Prevention Day! A day for celebrating decisions to live and to remember those who died by suicide. A short thread on things you can do to help those struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors @IASPinfo #WSPD 
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Suicide is continuously in the top 20 leading causes of death, with approximately one death by suicide every 40 seconds. Struggling with suicide attempts and thoughts is even more widespread. For every executed suicide, 25 people have attempted 2/11 https://www.iasp.info/wspd/pdf/2020/2020_wspd_brochure.pdf
One step you can do is educate yourself (e.g., via the brochure in the last tweet) and then raise awareness by talking about this with friends and family. It's a hard topic, but many of the most important ones are. 3/11
Check in on friends and family. One of the biggest suicide-related myths is that asking about it can induce suicidal thoughts or push someone contemplating suicidal behavior to act on it, but evidence doesn't support this theory 4/11 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13811118.2020.1793857?casa_token=59oReTPt1l4AAAAA%3A36IySMa3o41IcpZNQpYN3w_vmDoywK-KmkfDEgh50AP6QWuxjW879wvGo7lns_BBZ7AwEYfF7lc7UQ
Destigmatize suicidal thoughts and behaviors and attending therapy more generally. If you haven't had any struggles with your own mental health, fantastic! Support your friends who do and be a vocal proponent for the bravery required by those who attend therapy 5/11
If you've struggled with suicidal thoughts/behaviors or other mental health issues, and feel safe/comfortable doing so, talking about those experiences can help people quietly struggling realize they're not alone in this experience. 6/11
For example, I've struggled with chronic depression and SI since I was 16. One of the best things for me is this little tattoo I got with my brother. A semi-colon represents a sentence that could have ended, but the author chose not to. The clover is an homage to my family. 7/11
And having this tattoo drives me to challenge my self-stigma and be open about my experience, to help others see that many people have struggled with suicidal thoughts/behaviors. And SO MANY HAVE. 8/11
This meta-analysis of over 600,000 students found that 22.3% reported SI in their lives! It sucks that so many people experience this, but at the same time it can be a nice remember to people going through it that they aren't alone in this experience 9/11 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/prevalence-of-suicidal-thoughts-and-behaviours-among-college-students-a-metaanalysis/F31360A7411B35C4AC3B1A8DA67FA016
Another thing you can do is stop using the phrase "commit suicide". Think of the other things people "commit" (murder, adultery, arson). "Commit" implicates a moral failing on the part of the person performing the action. Use the phrase "died by suicide". 10/11
In addition to fighting stigma, there are amazing foundations that raise $ to decrease stigma for suicide & mental health issues, including @IASPinfo @TWLOHA. Plus, you can light a candle in your window tonight with everyone participating in #WSPD 11/11 https://www.iasp.info/wspd2020/light-a-candle/
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