Suicide Series, Part 1: Understanding Risk & Warning Signs

Danica Williams, MSW, CSWA
November 21, 2025

Build awareness, reduce stigma, and provide language for identifying risk early.

This is part 1 in my three-part series on suicide.

Suicide is a painful and complex issue that touches individuals, families, and communities across the world. Suicide prevention begins with understanding. Suicide rarely results from one single event. It’s often the outcome of many overlapping stressors, including mental health challenges, environmental pressures, and systemic inequities. Understanding the risk factors and warning signs allows us all to play a role in prevention and effectively support ourselves and one another with care, awareness, and connection. By learning to recognize these factors, we can respond with compassion instead of judgment and help connect people to the care they deserve.

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) differentiates between risk factors and warning signs: Risk factors are characteristics that make it more likely an individual will consider, attempt, or die by suicide. Warning signs may indicate an immediate risk of suicide (https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/suicide-prevention).

Risk factors include health-related and environmental influences, as well as experiences across one’s lifespan. Mental and physical health conditions such as depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or chronic pain can increase vulnerability. Social and environmental stressors also play a significant role, including easy access to lethal means, prolonged stress from harassment, discrimination, unemployment, relationship conflict, or major disruptive life events like divorce or financial crisis may further heighten risk. Historical factors such as prior suicide attempts, a family history of suicide, early experiences of abuse or neglect, and intergenerational trauma can also contribute to elevated risk (https://afsp.org/risk-factors-protective-factors-and-warning-signs/).

Warning signs that someone may be contemplating suicide often appear as changes in what they say, how they act, or the emotions they display, especially following a painful event or loss. Verbal cues might include expressing hopelessness, feeling like a burden, mention of having no reason to live, or talking about wanting to die. Behaviorally, a person might withdraw from others, increase their use of alcohol or drugs, give away valued belongings, sleep much more or less than usual, or research methods of self-harm. Emotional signs can include deep sadness, anxiety, irritability, shame, anger, or even a sudden sense of calm or relief after a period of distress (https://afsp.org/risk-factors-protective-factors-and-warning-signs/).

Understanding risk and warning signs is the first step in preventing suicide. In the next part of this three-part series on suicide, I focus on what comes next: how to keep ourselves and others safe through evidence-based prevention, community support, and open conversations about mental health.

If you are in crisis or need immediate support, please contact one of the following free, confidential, and 24/7 resources: