Impulsive Suicide: The Storm That Passes
When it comes to suicidal thoughts, most of the dialogue we hear feels black and white. The focus tends to be on long-term darkness - people who have been struggling for months or years, who see therapists, take medication, and fight their demons daily.
But there’s another version that doesn’t get enough attention - one I personally call impulsive suicide. And it’s terrifying.
Because unlike chronic depression, impulsive suicide can hit out of nowhere. You can be fine one moment, and the next, it’s like a storm slams into your chest - overwhelming emotion, hopelessness, panic, and a sudden, irrational urge to escape it all. It feels permanent, even though it’s not. And that’s what makes it so dangerous. A wave that passes can still drown you if you act before you realize it’s temporary, because in the moment it feels very real and validated.
The Body-Brain Connection
Let me paint a picture of how I learned this firsthand.
I’ve got food issues - specifically with artificial ingredients and preservatives. When I eat processed junk, my body immediately goes to war with itself. My eyes swell, my throat tightens, my gut inflames, and I feel this deep weakness, like my whole system is short-circuiting.
And here’s the scary part: it hits my brain too.
My thoughts get darker. I become irritable, foggy, paranoid. I start pointless arguments, spiral into hopelessness, or convince myself life is falling apart - all of it feels so real in the moment. Then, I wake up the next day feeling totally fine and wonder:
“Why the hell did I think that way yesterday?”
That’s when it hit me: my brain chemistry had been hijacked by what I was putting in my body. What felt like truth was actually distortion - an internal chemical firestorm that pretended to be reality.
Now imagine if I had acted on those fake emotions - if I’d made a permanent decision based on a temporary, biological glitch. I’d have missed out on another sunrise, another calm morning, another chance to feel okay again.
How Many Others Are Caught in This Loop?
I started wondering how many other people have gone through something similar - how many lives might have been lost to impulsive, chemically-driven hopelessness that wasn’t truly “them.”
Not everyone has food sensitivities like I do, but we’re all walking around in bodies affected by what we eat, drink, and breathe. Processed food, lack of sleep, dehydration, hormonal imbalance, stress, viral infections and illness, all of these can mess with mood and perception.
And if you already battle mental health struggles, those small physical triggers can become emotional landmines. One bad meal, one sleepless night, one argument too many - and suddenly you’re in that storm, convinced it’s forever, when really your brain and body are just misfiring.
That’s why awareness is everything. When you feel the spiral starting, ask yourself:
Did I eat something processed or sugary today?
Have I slept enough?
Am I sick, dehydrated, or under extreme stress?
Is this an authentic emotion, or could it be an amplified one from a temporary imbalance?
That pause - that single moment of reflection - might save your life.
We’re All Built Differently
This isn’t to say that all mental health struggles are impulsive or diet-related. Far from it. Mental illness is complex - it’s emotional, psychological, spiritual, biological, and environmental all at once.
But what I’m saying is this: we need to treat people as individuals. We need to look at the whole system - not just the mind, but the body that houses it. Sometimes the thing trying to kill you isn’t your soul - it’s inflammation, exhaustion, or chemical chaos pretending to be despair.
If we can start recognizing that, maybe we can save more lives. Maybe people can get through those storms instead of getting lost in them. Maybe awareness - real, full-picture awareness - can bring stability back into lives that feel like they’re slipping away.
Because sometimes, it’s not the end.
It’s just your body sounding an alarm - and if you can ride out the storm, you might wake up tomorrow and realize the sun never stopped shining.
- J. Potts
