A Literary Prescription for
If you are having thoughts of ending your life, please reach out right now to one of the resources below. You deserve support, and you do not have to carry this alone.
If you need to talk to someone right now
United Kingdom & Ireland
Samaritans — call 116 123 (free, 24/7)
France
3114 — Numéro national de prévention du suicide (free, 24/7)
United States
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988 (24/7)
Elsewhere
The International Association for Suicide Prevention keeps a directory of crisis centres worldwide at iasp.info
If you are in immediate physical danger, please contact your local emergency services.
A Note Before You Read On
Suicidal feelings can arrive for many reasons, and they do not mean you are broken, weak, or beyond help. They are often a sign that the pain you are carrying has become too much to hold by yourself — which is exactly why reaching out, to a crisis line, a doctor, a trusted person, matters more than anything else right now. The words below are offered gently, alongside that support, not instead of it.
Books
Books written by people who have been in this exact darkness, and are still here.
Haig writes from inside the depths of severe depression and suicidal despair, and from the other side of it, with a directness that has helped enormous numbers of readers feel less alone. He does not pretend recovery is simple, but his testimony — that the unbearable feeling did, eventually, become bearable — carries real weight, because he lived through exactly what he is describing.
Jamison, a clinical psychologist who lives with bipolar disorder herself, writes with extraordinary honesty about her own suicide attempt and the long road of treatment and stability that followed. Her dual perspective, as both clinician and patient, offers rare insight into both the depths of the illness and the real, hard-won possibility of a full life afterward.
Jamison’s comprehensive study of suicide combines rigorous research with deep personal and clinical understanding, written for anyone wanting to understand more about what drives suicidal feelings and what is known to genuinely help. It does not shy away from the seriousness of the subject, while remaining ultimately oriented toward prevention, treatment, and hope.
Hendel’s work on emotion processing helps explain why unprocessed pain — grief, anger, fear that was never allowed expression — can build into a despair that feels unsurvivable. For readers ready to understand more about what is happening underneath the surface, with professional support, Hendel offers genuine clarity.
Poetry
Poems written by people who stayed, and who wanted you to know it was possible.
“Do not go gentle into that good night”
Dylan Thomas, 1947
Thomas wrote this as a plea to his dying father, and it has since become an anthem for holding on against the pull toward giving up, in whatever form that pull takes. It does not deny how hard the fight is. It simply insists the fight is worth having.
“No feeling is final” (extract from “Go to the Limits of Your Longing”)
Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Anita Barrows & Joanna Macy
Rilke’s short, often-repeated line — no feeling is final — has been a genuine lifeline for many readers in their darkest moments, a reminder that however permanent this pain feels right now, feelings change, even when it is impossible to believe that in the moment.
“Hope” is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson, c.1861
Dickinson describes hope as something that keeps singing quietly underneath everything else, asking nothing of you, costing you nothing, persisting even when you cannot hear it clearly. It does not need you to believe in it for it to still be there.
Quotes & Prose
From people who have been exactly where you are, and are still here to say so.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.
Martin Luther King Jr.
The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
Anna Quindlen
Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse. It eliminates the possibility of it ever getting better.
Unknown
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Stay. Just for today, stay. The version of you that exists on the other side of this pain is worth meeting.
Georgia Clare