Why We Need an Anti-Self-Help Approach to Suicidality

We live in a self-help-crazy culture. From seeking better time management habits to searching for light in dark times, self-help provides suggestions and support. But we also need an anti-self-help approach to suicidality.

Some of the readers sifting through piles of advice on how to be a better version of yourself are those suffering from suicidal ideation. Maybe a friend who has a plan. Perhaps you’re reading these words right now looking for a way out of a hopeless situation.

Self-help is often presented as the best way forward: Follow exercises online, change your habits, or get professional help to make yourself better.

There’s a place for that.

Unfortunately, with all the self-help noise about improving yourself, the signal is lost:

You do not need to be a better version of yourself.
You are beautiful just as you are.
This weight is not for your shoulders to bear alone.

The Problem

Self-help wanders dangerously far into the territory of asserting that if each individual worked on themselves and learned to feel better about themselves, we would live somewhere between spiritually-fulfilled sainthood and the utopian dream.

This is a distortion of philosophies that urge transformation of consciousness, being in the present moment, and not attaching to our external situation.