| A Time to Live Surviving Suicidal Thoughts |
| DISCLAIMER: This website is provided as an educational resource and should not be substituted for the diagnosis and treatment of a medical or mental health professional. |
Strategy 5: Crisis Patterns*
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By charting your crisis moments, you will be able to observe patterns that will prove helpful in identifying your underlying issues. |
| “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” Psalm 139:23 NIV |
Experiencing suicidal thoughts is an emotionally traumatic event. It is difficult at best, and impossible at
worst, to overcome recurrent suicidal ideation while in a constantly turbulent emotional state. Documenting
your crisis moments will reveal patterns that will serve as your survival kit map.
Why do I want to track my suicidal thoughts?
The volatile combination of overwhelming negative emotions and irrational thinking patterns make it
necessary to establish a rational approach to discovering crisis patterns. The patterns you observe will
direct you to the potential underlying causes of your suicidal thoughts. It is important to remember that
these thoughts do not exist in a vacuum. There are causes for them that can be identified and treated.
To detect your patterns, you will track the date, time, duration, strength and triggering event of each
occurrence of suicidal thoughts. You will do this through what I call a Personal Incident Report. It is
important to record every instance, including passing thoughts of suicide. There is no such thing as an
insignificant occurrence of suicidal thoughts.
The Personal Incident Report Elements
Let’s define the elements you will be tracking:
Date: The month and day the suicidal thought began
Time: The time of day the suicidal thought entered your mind
Duration: The number of minutes, hours or days the thoughts lasted
Strength: The intensity of the thoughts. I have come to think of my thought tracking in terms of how much
effort is required to deal with the thoughts as well as how the thoughts impact my daily life routine. For our
charting, let’s use the below scale to categorize intensity.
1 = Passing Thoughts (little effort to deflect thoughts; little impact on daily life)
2 = Minor Crisis (effort required to deflect thoughts; disrupts daily life)
3 = Major Crisis (focused effort required to deflect thoughts; daily life impaired)
Triggering Event: The situation that brought the suicidal thoughts to the forefront of your mind. Because
triggering events hold the key to the underlying causes of your suicidal ideation, a separate chapter will be
dedicated to this topic.
Identifying Patterns
Now that we are all on the same page in terms of understanding the elements that will be tracked, let’s
consider some of the patterns you may discover. There are probably as many different patterns as there
are people. Keep in mind that you easily may have multiple trends in play that are the result of multiple
underlying circumstances.
Here are examples of common trends.
By tracking my crisis moments, I have learned that my suicidal thoughts change as often as the weather.
One day it is sunny and warm and then next day it is thunderstorms with tornadoes. Seeing my patterns
has helped me to recognize that my thoughts sometimes change very quickly. I have learned that a
thought does not become a reality unless it is acted upon. As long as you commit to not act on suicidal
thoughts, then death by your own hand will not become a reality.
Most importantly, through the tracking of crisis moments, I have learned invaluable ways to help myself
avoid trouble spots in my life as well as identified many of the underlying contributing factors to the
depression that brings the suicidal moments.
worst, to overcome recurrent suicidal ideation while in a constantly turbulent emotional state. Documenting
your crisis moments will reveal patterns that will serve as your survival kit map.
Why do I want to track my suicidal thoughts?
The volatile combination of overwhelming negative emotions and irrational thinking patterns make it
necessary to establish a rational approach to discovering crisis patterns. The patterns you observe will
direct you to the potential underlying causes of your suicidal thoughts. It is important to remember that
these thoughts do not exist in a vacuum. There are causes for them that can be identified and treated.
To detect your patterns, you will track the date, time, duration, strength and triggering event of each
occurrence of suicidal thoughts. You will do this through what I call a Personal Incident Report. It is
important to record every instance, including passing thoughts of suicide. There is no such thing as an
insignificant occurrence of suicidal thoughts.
The Personal Incident Report Elements
Let’s define the elements you will be tracking:
Date: The month and day the suicidal thought began
Time: The time of day the suicidal thought entered your mind
Duration: The number of minutes, hours or days the thoughts lasted
Strength: The intensity of the thoughts. I have come to think of my thought tracking in terms of how much
effort is required to deal with the thoughts as well as how the thoughts impact my daily life routine. For our
charting, let’s use the below scale to categorize intensity.
1 = Passing Thoughts (little effort to deflect thoughts; little impact on daily life)
2 = Minor Crisis (effort required to deflect thoughts; disrupts daily life)
3 = Major Crisis (focused effort required to deflect thoughts; daily life impaired)
Triggering Event: The situation that brought the suicidal thoughts to the forefront of your mind. Because
triggering events hold the key to the underlying causes of your suicidal ideation, a separate chapter will be
dedicated to this topic.
Identifying Patterns
Now that we are all on the same page in terms of understanding the elements that will be tracked, let’s
consider some of the patterns you may discover. There are probably as many different patterns as there
are people. Keep in mind that you easily may have multiple trends in play that are the result of multiple
underlying circumstances.
Here are examples of common trends.
- Thoughts occur on same day(s) of the week or month
- Thoughts occur at similar times of day such as morning, afternoon, evening or night
- Thoughts occur for a similar number of minutes, hours or days at a time
- Thoughts occur at a consistent strength level or varying strength levels
- Thoughts occur as a result of a repetitive triggering event(s)
- There is a correlation between a particular person & triggering event(s)
- There is a correlation between the duration or strength
- There is a correlation between dates and a woman’s monthly cycle
- There is a correlation between dates and when the monthly bills are due
- There is a correlation between time of day and strength and/or duration
By tracking my crisis moments, I have learned that my suicidal thoughts change as often as the weather.
One day it is sunny and warm and then next day it is thunderstorms with tornadoes. Seeing my patterns
has helped me to recognize that my thoughts sometimes change very quickly. I have learned that a
thought does not become a reality unless it is acted upon. As long as you commit to not act on suicidal
thoughts, then death by your own hand will not become a reality.
Most importantly, through the tracking of crisis moments, I have learned invaluable ways to help myself
avoid trouble spots in my life as well as identified many of the underlying contributing factors to the
depression that brings the suicidal moments.
*Abridged from A Time to Live: Surviving Suicidal Thoughts by Kimberly Andry
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