

For example, they might not wear a seatbelt or drive carefully. Passive suicidality can lead people to put themselves in danger. In short, people who wish they were dead share something important with people who want to kill themselves: Both groups want their pain or problems to end. These risk factors might include mental or physical pain, hopelessness, illness, stress, loss, trauma, poverty, unemployment, relationship problems, isolation, substance abuse or addiction, sleep disturbance, and more. It’s also possible (though this hasn’t been researched specifically) that risk factors for passive suicidal thoughts are similar to risk factors for suicide itself. We don’t know why, but it’s reasonable to hypothesize that passive suicidal thoughts can swiftly change from “I want to be dead” to “I want to kill myself.” active suicidal thoughts are at equal risk for attempting suicide. Research indicates that people with passive vs. Some want, plan, and intend to die by suicide but not any time soon. Some want to die by suicide and make a plan but don’t intend to carry it out. Some people think of killing themselves but quickly reject the idea. At the other end of the spectrum are people with extremely high intent to end their life now, or maybe they’ve even just made a suicide attempt.Īt points in between are different gradations of suicidality. At one end are people who wish they weren’t alive anymore but also don’t think of suicide. Suicidality – that is, suicidal thoughts or behavior – exists on a spectrum.

People with passive suicidal thoughts don’t want to do anything to make themselves die. How can someone be suicidal if they don’t want to die by suicide? The very meaning of suicide is the intentional act of killing oneself. Technically speaking, the term “passive suicidal thoughts” is an oxymoron.
