Suicide Prevention Training Tip Card
This card is to be used as a training aid for the Soldier’s and
leadership’s Suicide Prevention awareness briefs.
Most suicides and suicide attempts are reactions to intense feelings of:
Loneliness - is an emotional state in which a person experiences powerful feelings of emptiness and
isolation. Loneliness is more than just the feeling of wanting company or wanting to do something with
another person. Loneliness is a feeling of being cut off, disconnected from the world, and alienated from
other people.
Worthlessness – is an emotional state in which a person feels low, and they lack any feelings of being
valued by others.
Hopelessness - is a spiritual/relational issue. It often stems from feeling disconnected from a
higher power or other people. Connection with a higher power and other people is a key to helping
individuals to withstand grief and loss. This connection allows individuals to rebound from most severe
disappointments of life.
Helplessness – is a condition or event where the Soldier thinks that they have no control over their
situation and whatever they do is futile such as repeated failures, receipt of a “Dear John or Dear Joan”
letter, etc.
Guilt- is a primary emotion experienced by people who believe that they have done something wrong.
Depression:
Depression is considered when one of the following two elements is present for a period of at least two
weeks: depressed mood or inability to experience life pleasures. If one of these elements is identied,
depression is diagnosed when ve symptoms from the list below are presented over a two-week period.
Feelings of overwhelming sadness and/or fear, or the seeming inability to feel emotion (emptiness).
A decrease in the amount of interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, daily activities.
Changing appetite and marked weight gain or loss.
Disturbed sleep patterns, such as insomnia, loss of REM sleep, or excessive sleep (Hypersomnia).
Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day.
Fatigue, mental or physical, also loss of energy.
Intense feelings of guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, worthlessness, isolation/loneliness and/
or anxiety.
Trouble concentrating, keeping focus or making decisions or a generalized slowing and memory
difculties.
Recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), desire to just "lay down and die" or "stop
breathing,” recurrent suicidal ideation without a specic plan, or a suicide attempt or a specic plan
for committing suicide.
Feeling and/or fear of being abandoned by those close to the individual.
For some individuals, a combination of many factors may cause depression. For others, a single factor
may trigger the illness. Depression often is related to the following:
Imbalance of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters - Changes in these brain chemicals may
cause or contribute to clinical depression.
Negative thinking patterns - People who are pessimistic, have low self-esteem, worry excessively,
or feel they have little control over life events are more likely to develop clinical depression.
Family history of depression – A genetic history of clinical depression can increase one’s risk for
developing the illness. But depression also occurs in people who have had no family members with
depression.
