Reasons for disclosing suicidal thoughts to their mental health professional | |
Response options | n (%) |
I’m worried that suicidal thoughts will not go away, and I want help to manage them | 153 (29.8%) |
Suicidal thoughts are interfering with my life as much as/more than other mental health problems | 152 (29.6%) |
I believe that a mental health professional can help with my suicidal thoughts | 125 (24.4%) |
Someone I know told me I should tell my mental health professional | 110 (21.4%) |
Other reason/s (free text response)a | 69 (13.5%) |
I’ve talked about suicidal thoughts with a mental health professional in the past and found this helpful | 52 (10.1%) |
Suicidal thoughts have become a relatively new problem and I want to deal with them | 38 (7.4%) |
Reasons for not disclosing suicidal thoughts to their mental health professional | |
I’m concerned that my mental health professional wouldn’t kept this information confidential | 133 (25.9%) |
Suicidal thoughts are not interfering with my life as much as other mental health problems are | 81 (15.8%) |
I think that suicidal thoughts will eventually go away, or are just a phase I’ll grow out of, so there’s no point talking about them | 80 (15.6%) |
I’ve not talked about suicidal thoughts with a mental health professional in the past, but think that they will judge me or not respond well | 74 (14.4%) |
Suicidal thoughts have become a normal part of my life | 74 (14.4%) |
I don’t think a mental health professional can do anything about my suicidal thoughts | 65 (12.7%) |
My mental health professional has never asked about suicidal thoughts so I’ve never brought it up | 61 (11.9%) |
I’ve talked about suicidal thoughts with a mental health professional in the past, was upset by their response, and don’t want to share again | 25 (4.9%) |
Other reason/s (free text response)b | 18 (3.5%) |
Factors that would increase motivation to disclose suicidal thoughts to a mental health professional | |
If I knew this information would be kept confidential and not be shared with others | 340 (66.3%) |
If my mental health professional asked about suicidal thoughts | 278 (54.2%) |
If I thought that suicidal thoughts could be treated/ helped | 274 (53.4%) |
If I thought my mental health professional would respond without judgement | 269 (52.4%) |
If the suicidal thoughts became more frequent or severe | 267 (52.0%) |
If the suicidal thoughts started to interfere more with my work/ school/ relationships | 241 (47.0%) |
Other reason/s (free text response)c | 20 (3.9%) |