James Donaldson on Mental Health - Caring for the Part of You That Wants to Die

Building a Life Worth Living Why not try to build a life worth living, where you don’t want to die?

Find a therapist to help you explore unhelpful narratives.

Change what you can in your life—even if that is radical acceptance of some hard things that cannot be changed.

Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., founder of dialectical behavior therapy , who has helped thousands of individuals work through their own suicidality , wrote that the desire to die by suicide: We don't know what happens when we die.

We do know that life can be unexpectedly different on earth just around the bend.

Linehan emphasized the importance of accepting where you are right now, even with all of your pain: Linehan chronicles her journey to work through her own suicidality and build a life worth living in a book by the same title.

If Someone You Love Is in Crisis ( from S.A.V.E.

Think hopelessness, increased substance use, withdrawal, or talking about death.

Ask directly: “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” Stay calm, listen, don’t argue.

Validate and support: “I hear how much you’re hurting.