Suicide is when a person ends their life intentionally by harming themselves. It is a tough choice for a person to make, and many people do not understand that. People think that suicide is a simple escape. They feel that this decision is simple to make, but it is far from it. 

When people decide to end their life, they do it when nothing is helping them out, no one is listening to how they feel, and they cannot bear it any longer. 

However, you may often ask yourself, what leads them to commit suicide? 

If you want to know the answer to this question, read on below and find out.

• Depression is the leading mental illness behind nearly half of all suicides.
• Substance abuse often amplifies suicidal thoughts, making people act impulsively.
• Traumatic events like war or childhood abuse can increase the risk of suicide.
• Social isolation can make individuals feel invisible, heightening suicide risk.
• Hopelessness can overshadow any positive aspects of life, leading to suicidal thoughts.
• The fear of losing status, relationships, or jobs can trigger a person to contemplate suicide

It’s tough to imagine a family member, friend, or celebrity committing suicide, but this decision is not impulsive. There are clear warning signs of suicidal behavior, along with other factors that can cause a person to make sure a decision. 

Some reasons why a person succumbs to such a problematic act include:

Most people who commit suicide have a mental illness; the most common condition is depression. Depression can make a person feel great psychological pain, leading to a feeling of hopelessness.

A depressed person will find it difficult to relieve their pain and resort to ending their own life. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention noticed that depression was a reason behind half of the suicides. 

Some other mental illnesses that can lead to suicidal thoughts include eating disorders, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. 

Stress not only puts a strain on your physical and mental health. When a person goes through a traumatic experience, they become changed, and one of the side-effects of this change is suicidal thoughts. 

Incidents such as rape, war trauma, childhood abuse, or physical abuse can lead to post-traumatic stress disorders and is a common cause of suicide. 

Diagnosis with PTSD causes feelings of helplessness and makes a person end their life.

Drugs and alcohol can easily influence a person’s decision, especially if they are already feeling suicidal. Substance abuse causes you to act on your urges, and if someone is struggling with stress, loss of a job, or a family member, then relying on alcohol and drugs can make them act impulsively. 

People with depression and other mental disorders abuse substances more, which fuels their suicidal thoughts.

A person may resort to taking their own life when facing a loss or when they have a fear of losing something or someone. 

These include being imprisoned, academic failure, getting arrested, humiliated or bullied, financial issues, loss of a job, end of a relationship/friendship, loss of status in society, and even cyberbullying. 

These experiences create an urge to remove the pain, and suicide seems the most straightforward way to end the pain caused by those experiences. 

If someone is struggling with a chronic illness or pain and has no hope for a cure, then they may attempt to kill themselves. 

The reason behind such a decision is that it gives them control over their life. It makes them feel more powerful than the chronic illness and helps them regain dignity. Because of this, some places allow you to opt for assisted suicide, which is legal in many states. 

Some diseases that have a high risk of suicide include asthma, brain injury, cancer, back pain, diabetes, heart diseases, congestive heart failure, HIV/AIDS, and Parkinson’s disease. One must know his family members’ mental and physical health conditions. 

If you notice something unusual, call a doctor right away.

The feeling of hopelessness also plays a role in deciding to commit suicide. When people lose all feelings of hope and cannot change that, then this can overshadow all the cheerful things in their life and make them feel alone.

This leads to them relying on suicide as the only viable option. While others may think things will improve, people struggling with this feeling may disagree with this idea, so they decide to end their lives. 

Social isolation is a powerful factor that contributes to suicide. A person can become isolated due to losing a friend, divorce, retirement, or even a mental illness. Sometimes, the inability to cope with social and societal norms also leads to isolation.

While this isolation is mainly a result of low self-esteem, it can lead to depression, substance abuse, and loneliness, all of which are risk factors for suicide.