I saved my friend from committing suicide, why do I feel guilty?

Question

I saved my friend for committing suicide because, one day I found her in the bath room with a razor to her wrist, I will admit that I used to cut and think of suicide when I was in high school (I'm 19 now) but now she keeps on thanking me, but I feel really guilty because I know what it feels like to want to die, and when I was going to kill myself, I didn't want any one to stop me, and now I feel guilty for stopping her, but I am glad that I saved a friend.

PLEASE I NEED ANSWERS!!!

Answer 1

THIS HAPPENED TO ME IN HIGH SCHOOL. And it's happened to me many times since!

When I was a junior in HS, there was a new kid. I made a point of being nice to him and introducing him to all my friends. About a week later, he tried to kill himself during the valentines dance. I stopped him and spent three hours talking to him. He was completely overboard. He kept saying over and over how he thought he was satan and would be doing the world a favor by killing himself. It was a long night.

The very next day, I felt terrible. I knew I had saved this kid's life, but I still felt aweful. When I talked to him at school later, he told me he was still having those thoughts. He felt I could help. I didn't think I could help him. He got this idea that if I wrote him a poem on the subject, it would make the thoughts go away. (They made us do poems for english class and I guess they really liked mine for some reason.) So, rather reluctantly, I wrote the poem for him and he never told me about any thoughts again. He started dating a nice girl and got on with his life.

Despite all this, I felt bad. Why did I feel bad? I didn't know the answer then, but I do now. RESPONSIBILITY. When someone tries to kill themselves and the responsibility to stop them falls into your hands, the emotions are CRUSHING. You don't feel guilty for saving your friend, no, you feel guilty for having your friend's life in your hands. Believe me, I've stopped many suicidals since then and I always feel this way. The last one was just a few months ago. A friend of mine called me and started screaming, "I'm gonna kill myself!" over and over. I spent 7 hours talking them down. The whole time, I felt very guilty. It's emotionally crushing when someone drops their entire life into your hands.

So, in conclusion, you feel guilty not because you saved your friend, but because your friend's life was in your hands and this an incredible responsibility. You did the right thing. There's no real reason to feel guilty, only glad. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

There's nothing AT ALL to feel guilty about.

Suicide is almost always a terrible idea.

This time was no exception.

You're a heroine.

Now, it seems to also be the case that this whole incident has reminded you of how you used to be suicidally depressed. So go get a bit of counseling. I presume you're in college, and have access to a mental health clinic. Just say "I've been strongly reminded of some suicidal feelings I used to have", and you should be able to get an appointment really fast.

If not, call a suicide hotline. Whoever you get on the other end of the phone is GUARANTEED to have had the experience of talking somebody out of suicide, so they surely can relate!

Answer 3

Dont feel guilty. You've probably saved her from comminting one fo the greatest mistakes in her life!!!