Here’s a new way to think of suicidal thoughts. The following paragraphs are excerpted from the first page of Chapter 14 in my new book “The Challenge to Heal“.

“Chapter 14  –  Challenge Thoughts of Suicide

The after-effects of having been in a deceptive and manipulative group, and then choosing to leave, are many and powerful. Feelings such as the ones examined in the last chapter can seem overwhelming – to such an extent that one may feel driven to thinking of suicide to find relief.

If you find yourself dwelling on an impulse to end your life – and actually formulating a plan to do so – you need to seek professional help. Don’t let shame, pride or fear prevent you from seeking the help you need. There are professionals who understand your situation, who are trained in ways to support you, who know how to help you to deal with the despair and hopelessness until the dark clouds part and the sun breaks through again.

Suicidal thoughts are, in fact, like a hungry parasite inside your head demanding that you submit to its insatiable yearning to feed on negativity. Don’t be seduced into believing the twisted reasoning, nor the masochistic impulses of these demanding, parasitic thoughts. They are not you and they have a voracious need to control you and feed off of you.

This rogue, parasitic, suicidal thinking pattern does not speak the whole truth about you or your circumstances and you must not identify with it, or even accept its thoughts and impulses as true. Think of it as a foreign ‘entity’ (like a controlling, parasitic cult) trying to co-opt your life and have you do its bidding. Do not let it take over and radicalize your mind. Do not let this extreme, negative thinking pattern indoctrinate you with its macabre appetite for death. Just as when you were seduced and conditioned by an extremist group, you can begin to believe that the implanted, ‘alien’ thoughts are your own and that you should act on them.

These destructive thoughts seem to have a life of their own and are not unlike an extremist group trying to recruit you for a suicide mission – but in this case it wants you to be both the terrorist and the victim.”

 

“The Challenge to Heal” is available at Amazon.com