Beginning Therapy for Depression and After Therapy. The numbers of completed suicides are particularly high just after a depressed patient first enters therapy. The expectation that therapy will fail, especially if this not the first attempt, is devastating. We begin to believe that if therapy fails, then we will never be rid of this pain, and what is the use of going on. It is particularly tragic, when a patient has gone through therapy and the depression has substantially lifted, that they then commit suicide.
Depression is episodic, in that it can come and go, sometimes in an instant.
If a person is feeling euphoric and at long last can envision themselves as depression free in the future, any setback will cause a flight back to the conditioned response of suicidal ideation. The thought of the pain of depression returning is unbearable and the urge to suicide may become intense. The triggers which cause this renewed depressive and suicidal episode are usually the same things which contributed to the depression in the first place. After therapy a continued exposure to an abusive partner, an oppressive boss, the inability to overcome substance abuse, inadequate concept of self, financial problems, etc. can trigger renewed suicidal urges. This does not signify your therapy has failed or that you must then start again from square one.