Frequently Asked Questions

There is no single answer to this question. There are many factors, such as traumatic and difficult life events, that can contribute to suicide risk. However, an estimated 90% of people who take their own lives have a mental health condition, such as a depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, or substance use disorder. Individuals with depressive disorders are especially at risk for suicide, but this risk is not overwhelming. Most people living with a depressive disorder or other mental illnesses can receive help through awareness, education, and treatment. The most common source of suicide risk is when a mental health condition is mistreated or left untreated.

According to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics, suicide is responsible for nearly 45,000 deaths in the U.S. each year — an average of 123 a day. CDC also estimates that, in 2016, nearly 10 million American adults seriously contemplated ending their life, nearly 3 million made a suicide plan, and 1.3 million attempted suicide.

You can look for warning signs of suicide that are related to the way the person is talking or acting. However, it’s not always obvious that someone is at risk, so the best way to know if someone is thinking about suicide is to ask them.

No. Research has found that asking someone whether they’re having suicidal thoughts does not give them suicidal tendencies. The actual risk is not talking about suicide with someone who may be in crisis.

There are several ways to talk to a family member, friend, co-worker, or acquaintance thinking about suicide. To get started, see T20FL’s advice on beginning a dialogue with someone, asking the right questions, and knowing what to say and do based on what you learn from the conversation.

It’s possible. For people without a mental health condition, being exposed to a family member’s or friend’s suicide attempt usually doesn’t increase their suicide risk in the absence of other risk factors, like substance misuse, trauma, abuse, or a major physical illness. However, for people with a mental health condition, being exposed to a family member’s or friend’s suicide attempt can put them at greater risk for attempting suicide.

No. A suicide attempt is a sign that someone is in crisis. It should always be taken seriously and never ignored. Without intervention and proper treatment, a person who has attempted suicide is at risk for attempting suicide again.

Sometimes, a person having suicidal thoughts doesn’t have enough energy to attempt it. They may regain some energy, but their feelings of hopelessness remain, and the increased energy level could contribute to acting on suicidal feelings. Another theory proposes that a person may “give in” to their feelings of hopelessness. This relieves some anxiety, which makes them appear calmer in the period preceding a suicide attempt. The most important takeaway is to maintain an open dialogue with someone who has recently been in crisis; never assume that those feelings have gone away.

Yes. Never give up on someone who is thinking about suicide, even if they’ve said they’ve already made up their mind. A person determined to attempt suicide often experiences feelings of hopelessness and a desire to stop their suffering. You can help a person in crisis by giving them hope and by helping them regain perspective, which can lessen their suicidal thoughts or prevent them from attempting suicide.

Check out T20FL’s suicide prevention page for information on seeking help, getting treatment, reducing someone’s access to lethal means of suicide, and more.

988 Lifeline work hard to make sure that everyone can reach a crisis center as quickly as possible. If you call 988 and are having trouble reaching a crisis worker, please let them know using their Contact Us form (available in the left sidebar). If you are in a medical emergency or suicidal crisis and you cannot connect, please call 911.

For TTY Users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988.

Yes. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has a Spanish Language line at 1-888-628-9454. They also provide the Tele-Interpreters service to our crisis centers, which supports over 240 languages.

Yes. In fall 2022, the 988 Lifeline began a pilot program to offer specialized call, text, and chat supports for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) youth and young adults. The program aims to support people under the age of 25 who reach out to the 988 Lifeline and want the option of connecting with a counselor specifically focused on meeting the needs of LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults. The specialized services are currently available by text and chat daily from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern Time and 24/7 by calling, until capacity is built up to offer all services 24/7.

Yes. All calls from 1-800-SUICIDE have been routed through the Lifeline network since March 2007. Callers to 1-800-SUICIDE are now being routed through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s network of over 200 crisis centers across the nation, the same network that responds to 988 callers in crisis.

Whether the Lifeline phone number will appear on your phone bill depends on your phone carrier. Please contact your phone carrier to ask how 1-800 toll-free numbers will appear on your phone bill.

Yes, the Lifeline itself covers all areas of the country, even if there is no local crisis center participating in that area. It is our goal to have calls answered as locally as possible, so we are working on developing relationships in areas where there are no crisis centers in the network.

Each of the crisis centers that participate in the 988 Lifeline informs us of their capabilities in terms of number of phone lines, staffing, and geographic coverage areas, which helps in the development of the routing plan. Crisis centers are not asked to cover areas they do not feel capable of covering. Many provide services in their direct areas as well as statewide or nationwide, while others may serve local counties and provide backup for a neighboring crisis center.

We encourage any organization to let a person at risk know about the Lifeline number and encourage them to call 988 Lifeline directly. The safety of callers transferred to 988 can be complicated by geography and technological issues so they recommend against doing so. If your organization regularly comes into contact with individuals at risk for suicide and might have an ongoing need to assure callers at risk get connected safely from your organization to the Lifeline, please complete the Lifeline Contact Us Form at 988lifeline.org/contact-the-lifeline.