In our series on busting myths that surround mental health, we examine common misconceptions around the topic of suicide. Today, we talk about something that we’ve heard from many suicidal people, “No one will miss me when I’m gone.” This is absolutely FALSE. When someone dies, whether by suicide or other causes, we always mourn them. Grief, rage, sadness, etc. are incredibly common when there is a loss. In terms of suicide, it is categorically untrue to think that your death would somehow go unnoticed. Suicides bring on all the emotions associated with loss and have an extra helping of guilt. 

Perhaps when someone is saying, “no one will miss me”, what they really are saying is “I am feeling so isolated.” Isolation can almost feel like you are in a vacuum. We can easily imagine that what we are so alone, somehow we could vanish and the world would easily move on. The reality, however, is that our lives are incredibly interconnected. Perhaps another example of what “no one will miss me” really means is a feeling that you are a burden. In sadness, we may rationalize that somehow those who love us might be “better off” if we were gone. Again, this idea is false. Not only will no one be “better off,” but losing a close friend or family member to suicide increases the risk of suicide for others (and increased thoughts of depression and anxiety). For more on why “no one will miss me” is false and why grieving suicides are so difficult, check out our latest blog, “Complicated Grief of Suicide.”