Discussion What do you consider an attempt?

[soributton]

Hello

Today, my professor cancelled his lecture last minute. I didn't have anything else planned for the day, so my friend and I just sat around and talked about random things. She doesn't know about my suicidal ideation, but she just thinks I have a strange fascination with self-inflicted death because of how often I talk about it. She doesn't mind it at all, and in fact finds it interesting to discuss sometimes.

I asked her what she considers to be an actual "attempt." Does going into it with the clear intent to die but ultimately backing out (or being found) before you can harm yourself count? Or must you already start the suicide process and simply fail it?

Take for example standing on a chair with your head in a noose but stepping down out of it after. Or climbing up to the top floor of a high building and then walking back down the stairs after seeing the view below.

I'm curious as to what you think. Thanks.

 

[SummerTrip]

It is a deeply philosophical issue and there is no clear answer to it imo. What one may consider an attempt the other may dismiss as something else.
What matter is how you feel about it. If you feel like it was an attempt, if you actually felt like taking our own life, it doesn't matter why, how or at what stage you quit. It was an attempt to you. That's all that matters.

 

[fightclub17]

A suicide attempt is making any action with the intent to die. The action does not have to be life threatening. If someone took 5 sleeping pills and wanted to die, that would be an attempt even though it is not as likely to kill a person.

Planning and not following through, is called a self interrupted attempt.

 

[porkyminch98x]

I would consider things like standing on the ledge of a rooftop, the final stage of hanging (where you're about to kick the table [partial] underneath you), taking extra pills with the intent to kill yourself, things like that. Basically, doing stuff right before you actually try to CTB, I would consider it an attempt.

 

[DungEater]

Probably intention more than anything matters, od'ing on something that won't kill you i'd still call an attempt if you thought it might work

 

[Fresh Soju]

Probably intention more than anything matters, od'ing on something that won't kill you i'd still call an attempt if you thought it might work

Technically trying to starve myself while being a kid would be an "attempt", too, with that definition, but I can kinda agree with you.

 

[DeathByBananabread]

To me, it's actually going through with it. Actually jumping, actually taking something, actually kicking the stool away, actually cutting too deep. Anything else is an "almost". Although there's no need to gatekeep the pain, "almosts" can still be bad- taking half as many pills as you planned is still a lot of pills, halfheartedly choking yourself is still choking. I do think people who actually attempted & survived should be given deference though.