When the pain gets intense, it helps to remind myself “Not all days are as bad as this.” It can feel overwhelming in the moment, and it distorts the view of the future. So I remind myself of that too. “What I’m experiencing right now is a distorted view of the future. So I’m not going to make any major decisions based on it.”
It can be hard to look forward to the future when I’m not enjoying the present, when it’s so awful, and there’s no known path or plan to make thing better. It can be extremely frustrating to just endure. It can feel so futile and pointless.
When I have a better day later, I notice and point it out to myself and remember the worse day when it felt like I wouldn’t have anything to look forward to, and am glad that I stayed alive long enough to experience it. And then I can remember that little conversation with myself when it gets intensely worse again, even though I don’t recapture the good feeling at that time.
Suicide can seem pretty attractive under conditions of intense pain. Thoughts of suicide can be something like a valve, or an escape fantasy, or a fantasy of having an off switch for the pain. Repetitive thoughts can be related to exhaustion or illness. I think a lot of these thoughts and feelings can have a physiological basis, and are not necessarily something to identify with. They are probably pretty good at signaling “something is wrong” but not very good at “this is an accurate and complete picture of my desires”. Paying attention to what you physically did just before the thoughts sometimes could lead to insights.
When the pain gets intense, it helps to remind myself “Not all days are as bad as this.” It can feel overwhelming in the moment, and it distorts the view of the future. So I remind myself of that too. “What I’m experiencing right now is a distorted view of the future. So I’m not going to make any major decisions based on it.”
It can be hard to look forward to the future when I’m not enjoying the present, when it’s so awful, and there’s no known path or plan to make thing better. It can be extremely frustrating to just endure. It can feel so futile and pointless.
When I have a better day later, I notice and point it out to myself and remember the worse day when it felt like I wouldn’t have anything to look forward to, and am glad that I stayed alive long enough to experience it. And then I can remember that little conversation with myself when it gets intensely worse again, even though I don’t recapture the good feeling at that time.
Suicide can seem pretty attractive under conditions of intense pain. Thoughts of suicide can be something like a valve, or an escape fantasy, or a fantasy of having an off switch for the pain. Repetitive thoughts can be related to exhaustion or illness. I think a lot of these thoughts and feelings can have a physiological basis, and are not necessarily something to identify with. They are probably pretty good at signaling “something is wrong” but not very good at “this is an accurate and complete picture of my desires”. Paying attention to what you physically did just before the thoughts sometimes could lead to insights.