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Nearly half of the people who attempt suicide have thought about it for less than ten minutes.

A more realistic portrayal of a suicidal person would involve the character who struggles with feelings of despair over a long period of time, and is then pushed into what mental health experts call a “suicidal crisis.” This crisis can be brought on by something big (a death in the family, a romantic breakup, a failure at work or school), or by an event that might seem very minor to outsiders but is still significant to the person involved. Some mental health experts use the image of a risk curve to explain the emotions of a person going through a suicidal crisis. The curve rises as the risk increases, and then falls as the person moves out of the crisis moment—that

Teen Guides to Health & Wellness: Suicide and Self-Harm

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