If you are unsure you can stay safe

If you think you may harm yourself, have made the decision to end your life, are preparing for it, or are unsure if you can stay safe, seek emergency help now.

Call the emergency number 103 in Ukraine or go to your nearest emergency department.

In Ukraine, call 103 or 112. Outside Ukraine, use your local emergency number.

If possible:

  • don't be alone;
  • tell your loved one what is happening to you;
  • go to a place where other people are nearby;
  • limit access to objects, drugs or other means that can cause harm to yourself;
  • do not use alcohol or other substances that may impair behavioural control.
Thoughts of death
Thoughts of death

Have thoughts about death become frequent?

Let’s consider your safety first, then the experience itself

It matters to say directly whether death frightens you, you are reflecting on it or you want to end your own life. If you may harm yourself or cannot be sure of your safety, seek help now.

Contents

Questions to ask yourself

Thoughts about death are thoughts about one’s own death, disappearance, or unwillingness to continue living. Different experiences can lie behind them: fear of death, reflections after a loss, a wish not to wake up, or thoughts of suicide.

Your answers to these questions can help you describe your own state to a professional:

  • How long have you been having thoughts about death?
  • Do they appear from time to time, or do they stay with you constantly?
  • Is it mainly a wish to disappear and stop suffering, or have thoughts of suicide appeared?
  • Do you have any intention of harming yourself?
  • Are there times when you are unsure you can stay safe?
  • Do the thoughts intensify at certain times or after specific events?

If you answer “yes” to the fourth or fifth question, do not wait for an appointment; act as described in the section “If you are unsure you can stay safe”.

Shades to keep in mind

It helps a professional to know which of these states is closest to yours:

  • Not wanting to live. The main feeling is not the thought of death itself, but exhaustion from suffering and a wish to disappear.
  • Suicidal thoughts. They are specifically about putting an end to your own life, so it is worth telling another person about such thoughts straight away.
  • Intrusive negative thoughts. A thought about death arrives against your will and frightens you, and you try to push it away.
  • Hopelessness. The core is a conviction that nothing will change for the better.
  • Negative view of the future. You see only threat or emptiness ahead, even when there are no thoughts about death.

These states often occur together, so if you recognise several, tell a professional about each of them.

Familiar situations

Imagine Vesniana thinking often about life ending after losing someone close and feeling frightened by those thoughts. She arranges to see a psychotherapist to talk about that fear.

Or Prokip, who more and more often wishes he could fall asleep and simply not wake up. This is a different experience, so he tells his wife about it directly and books an appointment with a psychiatrist.

Or Marko, who studies the map of front-line fighting late into the night and hardly gets any sleep because of it. It is in these sleepless hours that thoughts about death frighten him most, and he tells a doctor about them.

Vesniana and Marko are frightened by the thought of death itself, while Prokip notices a wish not to wake up. These experiences are not the same, and the section “Fear of death and wanting to die need distinguishing” explains how they differ.

Do your thoughts sound different? You can describe them to a professional in whatever way feels comfortable.

Fear of death and wanting to die need distinguishing

Thoughts about death can follow loss or accompany anxiety, low mood or crisis. It is important to distinguish fear, a passive wish not to wake up and intention to act. How dangerous this is should be worked out with a professional rather than alone.

If low mood and a fading interest in life have stayed with these thoughts for a long time, then a professional will also consider possible depression. Apart from other signs, thoughts about death do not yet mean that you have depression, but they need to be shared with a professional in any case.

Where can you start seeking help?

The first step is a visit to a mental health professional, even when there is no intention of harming yourself.

Emergency help is needed if there is suicidal intent, a specific plan, preparatory actions, a recent suicide attempt, or a feeling that you cannot guarantee your own safety.

In such a situation, call 103 or 112 in Ukraine or go to the nearest emergency department. If possible, do not be alone. Immediate risk requires emergency help; a routine appointment cannot replace it.

The initial psychiatric consultation page explains how an appointment with a psychiatrist works. The list of the clinic’s doctors can help you choose a specialist.

If thoughts about death keep coming back and there is no acute danger, then a psychiatrist at a consultation can help you understand what lies behind them.

Consultation booking form.

Describing the experience directly

You should not remain with such thoughts alone or wait until the condition becomes even more severe.

It is worth talking directly about them to a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, family doctor or other specialist. Talking about suicidal thoughts does not “strengthen” them; on the contrary, it is important for a specialist to know about their presence in order to correctly assess the condition and find help.

Before a consultation, it helps to spend more time near people you trust. Decide in advance which of them to turn to if things get worse. If you have already been diagnosed with depression, these people may find the article “How to help someone with depression” useful.

Another support is a safety plan that you work on with a professional. It covers four things:

  1. early signs of a crisis;
  2. ways to cope with the most difficult period;
  3. contacts of people to turn to;
  4. actions in case suicidal thoughts increase.

A short route

  1. If there is suicidal intent, a specific plan, preparatory actions, a recent suicide attempt, or you are unsure you can stay safe, call 103 or 112 in Ukraine or go to the nearest emergency department.
  2. If thoughts about death keep returning, become more specific, a wish not to wake up appears, hopelessness grows, you are becoming more isolated, or you stop seeing reasons to go on living, do not delay a consultation with a mental health professional.
  3. If thoughts about death frighten you but you have no intention to act, share them with a professional and someone close to you, as described in the section “Describing the experience directly”.
  4. If your state is more like intrusive thoughts or hopelessness, compare it with the descriptions in the section “Shades to keep in mind”.

A routine consultation suits point 2 or 3, but not point 1: that needs emergency help.

Consultation booking form.

Common questions

No, the content can differ. But a wish to die, intention, preparation or uncertainty about staying safe needs prompt attention.

Medical sources