Often a person considering suicide feels a sense of complete hopelessness, helplessness, grief, and loss. Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness may also stem from having a terminal or chronic illness accompanied by physical pain, financial strain, or episodes of depression. Grief and loss may be experienced because of a spouse's death or the death of a child or sibling or because of role and lifestyle changes, such as retirement or poor health. The most common method used to commit suicide is poisoning, usually from an overdose of sleeping pills, sometimes taken with alcohol. Inhaling car exhaust fumes is another method often used.
Men use violent methods such as shooting themselves more often than women.
Often a person leaves clues that he or she is going to commit suicide. If someone ever tells you he or she is planning to commit suicide, take it seriously. It is a myth that significant clues are left only by those who fake suicide or injure themselves on purpose just to get attention. A person planning to commit suicide may leave clues as a call for help. Suicide is preventable in many cases.