What to say? How to respond?

I am having a really hard time with deciding what to say and how to respond when people ask me what happened. Every now and then the topic of my withdraw from school and my time spent in the hospital comes up in conversation. Curiosity is natural so it’s not really surprising that people always ask what happened and why I was in the hospital. I don’t know how to respond to people because I know that I can’t and don’t want to just bluntly say that I tried to commit suicide. I don’t want to say that I was hospitalized for a botched suicide attempt, but I really don’t know what I should say. I don’t like to say that I was involved in an accident because then people ask more questions because they assume it was a car accident. Any advice or suggestions?

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suicidesurvivor

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4 Answers

0 accepted

Courtesy of Kelly Williams Brown

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rinseandrep

7,397

First of all, you can ALWAYS say something like 'Sorry, I don't feel comfortable talking about that'. Pretty much everyone will accept that.And if you want to tell them that you tried to commit suicide, then ofcourse you can. You shouldn't be trying to bring it more lightly and happy then it is. You could say something like 'Well I had been struggling with things for a long time, I didn't feel well with my own life, so I actually tried to end it'. Do realize that a lot of people will take this as a really heavy response, because it's not just nothing. If you let them notice that you think it's hard to talk about by for example talking slowly, taking a deep breath before you start talking, and looking serious, then people will probably react the same way by seriously listening to you and being polite and caring.If you don't want to tell them that you committed suicide, but you still want them to know something, you can say something like 'I have had a really rough time and was in a very emotional state, but here I am now and I don't really feel comfortable going in detail about it, okay?'Hope this helps.

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Seeker of the light

If you don't want to tell them, it's not their business. Just tell them, "I don't feel comfortable with sharing" or "Don't worry about it." Tell the people you want to know, but make sure they're trustworthy if you don't want it to spread to everyone else. Being straight-up and telling people that it's not their business or that you don't want to tell them sends the right message without being too harsh.

Now I'm hungry.

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