This article is from the Suicide FAQ, by Graham Stoney greyham@research.canon.com.au with numerous contributions by others.
People can usually deal with isolated stressful or traumatic events
and experiences reasonably well, but when there is an accumulation of
such events over an extended period, our normal coping strategies can
be pushed to the limit.
The stress or trauma generated by a given event will vary from person
to person depending on their background and how they deal with that
particular stressor. Some people are personally more or less
vulnerable to particular stressful events, and some people may find
certain events stressful which others would see as a positive
experience. Furthermore, individuals deal with stress and trauma in
different ways; the presence of multiple risk factors does not
necessarily imply that a person will become suicidal.
Depending on a person's individual response, risk factors that may
contribute to a person feeling suicidal include:
- Significant changes in:
- Relationships.
- Well-being of self or family member.
- Body image.
- Job, school, university, house, locality.
- Financial situation.
- World environment.
- Significant losses:
- Death of a loved one.
- Loss of a valued relationship.
- Loss of self esteem or personal expectations.
- Loss of employment.
- Perceived abuse:
- Physical.
- Emotional/Psychological.
- Sexual.
- Social.
- Neglect.
 
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