Bipolar Disorder Kills

Bipolar Disorder – Will Your Loved One Kill Themselves?

Almost 20% of people with bipolar disorder will kill themselves and nearly half of all individuals with the disorder will attempt suicide at least once. I’m not trying to scare you with those numbers – I just want you to realize that there is a very good chance that at some point in your loved one’s life, they may attempt suicide. You must take the threat of suicide very seriously when you’re dealing with bipolar disorder.

Suicide attempts generally take place during bipolar depressive episodes; however, most suicide attempts do not take place during the deepest part of the depression. The majority of them actually take place when the depressive episode is beginning to lift. No one knows for certain why this is, but two possibilities are that when the person comes to grips with the decision to take their own life that the gloom lifts, or that only during the beginning of recovery from depression does the person have the energy to actually go through with a suicide plan.

Either way, you need to be aware of what signs may signal that your loved one has been having suicidal thoughts. A checklist of these signs is listed below:

• Beginning to discuss suicide openly
• Talking about meeting up with dead relatives in the very near future
• Giving away items that are personal or special to them
• Purchasing knives, guns, or other weapons
• Stockpiling their medications
• Writing a will, checking on the status of life insurance policies, or finalizing funeral arrangements
• Contacting people they haven’t spoken to in a long time
• Making statements such as "You’d all be better off if I were dead" or "I don’t have anything to live for"
• Having several accidents in a row that result in injury (these may have been suicide attempts)

Make sure that you know to contact your loved one’s doctor, psychiatrist, and/or therapist immediately if they begin to show any of these signs. If you wait, it may be too late.

Your loved one may have to have to rely on your vigilance to protect them from themselves while they are in a depressive episode. There are some things you can do at the first signs of a bipolar depressive episode to protect them in case they begin to have these types of thoughts, though, such as the following:

• Hide all medications and weapons (including kitchen knives) where your loved one cannot easily access them
• Get rid of any medications that are no longer needed
• Get rid of all guns and firearms in your home
• Make arrangements to have someone be with your loved one most or all of the time
• Keep the phone number for the suicide hotline (1-800-442-HOPE) where you and/or your loved one can find it: on your refrigerator, in your speed dial, etc.

During a bipolar depressive episode, will your loved one kill themselves? Nobody knows for sure, but by taking these measures, hopefully you can help prevent them from making a fatal mistake while they are in that episode.

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