I have a piece of advice to offer to anyone out there that may come across this. If a person ever, ever, mentions to you that they have ever been suicidal, they've ever doubted their desire to live, or that they've wanted to die to escape their own personal misery, you have no right to tell them that their feelings are unfounded, their panic unreasonable, or their fears exaggerated. I don't care if the person is young or old, male or female, known to be depressed or just hiding it well. Even if it comes up 8 years later in conversation and you think that they are better now, you don't tell someone that their panic, fear, and fears about continuing to live are being felt for no reason. There's always a reason. Always.
You don't need to understand it. You don't need to empathize with it, or sympathize with it, or even know the details. The reason may seem entirely stupid to you, or it may be something that would make you feel the same way if you were in that situation. It doesn't matter. You accept that the person is (or was) dealing with something they felt they can't handle, and you support them. You refer them for help if need be. Is it your responsibility to keep them alive? No, and you can't feel that pressure on you so that their potential decision becomes a guilt you carry for the next several decades. But the decent human being thing to do is to at the very least not insult them or what they are going through. I really don't think that's too much to ask.
Another thing to think about, just from me to you?
