Glossary of Terms

Suicide prevention can sometimes include language you may not be familiar with. The following are terms used commonly when talking about it:

Term	Definition
Suicidality	An umbrella term for suicide ideation, plans, behaviour, attempts and suicide.
Suicidal behaviour	A spectrum of activites related to death by suicide, non fatal suicide attempts, self-harm, and suicide ideation.
Suicide ideation	Thoughts of taking one’s own life. They can be either passive (“Life is not worth living”; “It wouldn’t be so bad if I died”) or active (“I can’t do this anymore. I’m going to end it.”).
Suicidal plan	A plan to complete suicide that includes when, how and where.
Suicide intent	Determination to self harm to end own life.
Suicide attempt / Suicidal act	Acting on the suicidal thoughts through a non-fatal self-injurious behaviour with an intention to die as a result of it. It may or may not result in injury.
Suicide loss survivors	Someone who has lost a loved one or an immediate family, friend or acquaintance to suicide.
Suicide attempt survivor	Individuals who have survived a previous suicide attempt.
Parasuicidal behaviours	Having thoughts of suicide and engaging in non-lethal self-harming behaviours with or without the intent to die.
Assisted suicide	When a person assists another person to take their own life by providing the knowledge or the means to do so.
Physician assisted suicide	When a doctor assists their patient to take their own life, usually by providing a prescription of lethal medication.
Suicide contagion / Copycat suicide	When one suicide or suicidal act within a family, peer group, shool or community increases the risk of others attempting suicide.
Suicide prevention	A strategy or approach that reduces the likelihood or delays the risk of suicidality.
Suicide warning signs	Verbal, non-verbal or behavioural signal that a person uses to indicate that they are at risk of suicide.