When someone truly wants to commit suicide it is often because they believe it is the only answer to their problems. Some people however get suicidal not because they want to die but because that is the only way they know how to ask for help. Either way they should always be taken seriously. Let the professionals decide which it is and the best way to treat it. Edit: Unfortunately sometimes people who do not really want to die try make what they think is a false attempt but something goes wrong and they succeed.

Can I make it clear first that I refer to "real" suicide attempts here rather than "cry for help" attempts. It is difficult for someone who has never been in the position to understand how someone could possibly believe that life is not worth living, but this is the most usual cause. The feeling that daily life is too much of a struggle that hits during depression is one that Sylvia Plath expressed wonderfully in her semi-autobiographical book "The Bell Jar" when she says that simple items like washing her hair seemed ridiculous and pointless when she would just have to do it all again a few days later, instead she would rather just do it once, and be done with it. The longing for death and resulting suicide attempt is really a desire for a rest from the daily struggles of being alive- when we have problems we all sometimes have the desire to avoid them all by curling up in a corner and going to sleep, hoping it will all be over when we wake up- a suicide wish is merely a desire to do so and never wake up, they can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they do not have to complete the daily struggle any longer. Its worth remembering that depression distorts perception- to a clinical depressive, a problem which could be dealt with easily by a "normal" person can seem like an enourmous thick brick wall- posting a letter, getting out of bed, having a conversation can all seem an incredible effort.

It's not that suicide is so attractive - it's more that living has become unattractive to someone contemplating ending his or her life. Suicide is all about the lack of ability to cope with loss - loss of love, loss of health, loss of hope, loss of a certain quality of life - someone considering suicide has lost something vital and has no hope of getting it back. And the thought of moving on, discovering new reasons to take heart and smile again, seems exhausting, even pointless. Even if it's a vague loss, the kind Sylvia Plath detailed in The Bell Jar, (see lady fuschia's answer), it's still loss. Enjoyment and interest in living belongs in the past. A once meaningful and productive life has evolved into mindless tedium. The symphony is finished, the orchestra, gone. Rich, vibrant, colors have faded, leaving a dull palette of shapeless grays and blacks. The abyss of jaded apathy can slowly grind a man's will to live into nothing as surely as an abundance of heartbreak can suddenly destroy it. If someone sees little more than a future of declining health, few friends or family, very little money, and no hope of anything better - in short - pain, loneliness, poverty, and hopelessness, why postpone the inevitable? Why go through years of torment? How can it be living, really, when death seems preferable? Ironically, suicide may be the last hope, the only means by which someone can imagine continuing his existence in some form, somewhere. If death is the enemy, then he must confront the foe while he still has the courage and resources to fight. By not passively waiting for death to come along and end life at the time and place of its choosing, the suicide has, in effect, usurped death's power. More a romantic illusion than a realistic view of death, but, still, one possible reason suicide might look attractive. I'm not sure if this is useful, but perhaps it will be helpful. Good luck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Beverlyofhills - Did you read the question? The questioner asks why suicide is attractive to people who've either tried it, or might. I couldn't answer the question effectively by moralizing the issue. I'm not running the suicide prevention hotline here - I'm answering a question. Are you suggesting that a better reply would have been something like, "Suicide looks so attractive because it's a terrible idea. People see it as the perfect way out because it's not. It's never the right answer. No one should even consider it" ? I assumed the questioner asked for insight, not judgment. I never said suicide was an answer. I gave reasons why a person with a suicidal mind-set might see it as attractive. Surely you can distinguish one from the other.

Have your ever heard the words, as a last resort in life, when you have done all you can do, there is nothing else left, except to cry. These are the words of a person with a normal mental state of mind. A person with psychological issues, under the same set of circumstances as above, will attempt suicide instead of crying. Some suicidal people demand attention and this is their calling card, especially people, who are drug addicts. This is attractive to this type of suicidal person. Some people, who attempt suicide, are truly psychologically impaired and self-mutilation, or attempted suicide seems normal to them.

I for one can personally say that one who really has true suicidal thoughts is one who is such deep emotional pain that he/she and I have at times would be willing to commit suicide opposed to experiencing this deep emotional pain. This emotional pain comes and goes now from years of sexual abuse by my father, emotional abuse, physical abuse, outright betrayl from friends, and finally after a nervouse breakdown in 2005, the loss of my 27 year career as a paralegal, the lose of everything I owned or had to pawn, the humiliation felt when facing my two sons for getting in the predicament I am, the fact that I kept trying but failed and towards the end lost 3 jobs in six months, feeling like a failure and at the age of now 47 feeling like there is no way for me to ever get back all of the years of hard work I put into my life to fight off all of the abuses done to me only for it to finally bite me in the end. At one point I found it of great pleasure to play Russian Roulette with my medications hoping the concoction and amounts would kill me but really I did not know when I took them whether I would or would not wake up so I did not feel any emotions at all by playing this game and when you get to this point even that you do not even think by taking our life how it will truly devestate your children or family or will always wonder why. You know, the people that expect you to just snap out of it whatever it is causing you so much pain, to stop being a wimp, to not live off the system, even though that is not your intentions. Yes, those are the people that will say "why". I have moved from one state to another and live with an officer whom I have great respect for and have come to love slowly and have started for once moving about and doing things however, even now, I get those suicidal urges that are fewer apart and the depression is not as bad and at this point I am gathering resources to help mentally ill people who at the time they are struck with the mental illness and try to get help from their local Government they learn that all these programs that are out there are not given to you in detail and that the gov't would not give me answers to help me voluntarily and I would somehow on my own have to do my own research and have found behind the seen programs that no one ever knows about by true intentive help from the government agency employees but once you find them they have to abide by what they have written into their manuals. When I moved to this new state, the first thing I did was start my research on how I was going to get the help I still need and sure enough I came up with information and key words to use when talking to the Health Department that took them by surprise especially since I was a new resident which in the long run is going to save me a lot of money on dr. and therapist visits and there are medication access programs out there for people like me who make too much social security disability to be eligible for many prescription assistance programs however, their salary eligibility is ridicuously low so until Sept. 2007 when I can get medicare I will have to fight on a continuous basis to I would say stay alive and I sincerely hope I can do it and I hope this answer helps whomever has asked it and now understands why suicide is attractable. Also, what bothers me in some ways is that the psychiatrists and therapists seem to think of the suicidal thoughts you are having as ideasm and that you would not really go through it and they really don't want to think you will because it would mean too much paperwork and cost to the state to have to admit you to the hospital to get your stabilized so they let you come to their office admit your playing Russian Roulette have told them what your plan is (and I seriously have a plan if it gets to bad), and they say now I want you to sign this paper saying you will not kill yourself before you leave today so they have something on their filed to help them because if you leave and kill yourself the therapist or dr. can say I have a signed document here from her stating she would not take her life. When really what should have been done in my mind is someone should have taken me seriously as I did go home one particular day and play a double dare Russian Roulette game knowing the system was only going to help me so much, enough just to say they are doing their job. None of these thoughts are attempts were done to get attention as no attention anyone would give me at the time would help me because the emotional pain is so great that the words they are saying to you is not making the pain go away nor do you think it will ever go away. To give you an example of who I am, I was very abused as a child however, starting working when I was 14 1/2 and between then and my breakdown in 2005 I managed to build up my career on my own making excellent money without a college degreee, I managed to help put two fine sons through college and somehow managed to raise them to play an important part in society only to at the age of 44 finally somehow allowed all of the abuse to take its toll and break me like I cannot explain in words. I also have a thought disorder now. I also tend to ramble about this particular subject but for those out there who think that people committ suicide as a chicken's way out or don't understand why, I have now told you why and I pray to God for every mentally ill depressed person out there that is thinking about this option because I honestly know what they are feeling but on my own have come up with some coping skills because I guess part of me wants to save my life at this point. I spend a lot of my days now doing so my reearch on help that people can get when they feel hopeless or like if the Gov't cannot help them who can and give up when in fact there is help. I call it my suicide prevention project and at some point I want to be an outreach source to those people who cannot think rationally when under extreme emotional pain or feel trapped with no way out. I am sorry for such a long answer once again I just needed to type this to tell what one feels like when they think suicide is attractive.

Y'all said: 'Can I make it clear first that I refer to "real" suicide attempts here rather than "cry for help" attempts.' Assuming that there actually is a "cry for help" subset of suicides, the only person who could really know is the person attempting the suicide. Chances are, even that person won't really know... one's emotional state at suicide time precludes rationality. 1. I don't believe there is a "cry for help" suicide. Suicide is. Period. 2. If you encounter someone who is considering suicide, don't get sucked into categorizing the 'type' of suicide. What matters is that the other person in an emotional state of futility - the person feels that continuing to live is pointless. In that situation, the best you can do is to keep the person talking while you keep hearing. This is not a time for being judgemental. If you are skilled in the art of suicide counseling, get artisitic, fast. Otherwise, get help, fast. Save for the 'cry...' cliche, the original answer was excellent. Been there, done that. There's no t-shirt.

Not attractive- less bad than their lives.

It isn’t that suicide is attractive, it’s more to do with life becoming more and more unattractive. Beware! Most suicides are accidents. And most ‘cry for help’ suicide attempts succeed unintentionally. Very few people actually plan to commit suicide and carry out their plan. Most people who talk about wanting to kill themselves won’t actually do it. Most teenagers at one time or another have considered what it would be like to commit suicide.

Well I don't know I don't think it is attractive to anyone. I think some people have a chemical imbalance and they are not thinking clearly. How could someone actualy be clear headed and kill themselves I can't see it. My ex killed himself and for no reason. He had no thinkable reason for it and left no reason for why he was even considering it. The only way for me to even think he would consider it is to believe he must have had a chemical imbalance. It is a shame that the people that do kill themselves, that it is never really studied as to why they would. Nobody wants to talk about it. Much less look into it. If they did maybe alot of this could be stopped.

It isn't attractive, it's just that life has become so unattractive.

Threatened suicide is usually a cry for help. It is a way to let those around know that things aren't okay - some use threates to test the waters and see who really cares. Others use threats as a way to alert those around to the fact that they're just not coping. Suicide that is successful is used as a way to end suffering for the person who suicides but also what they perceive as the suffering their existence causes to those around them. Suicide is seen as an end to ALL problems. It is an option. And whilst I'm keeping my opinion on whether I approve or disapprove of this option to myself, sometimes it's the only option a person feels is available to them.

It's the only back door out of a nightmare, which others call life.