If you have ever known someone who has attempted suicide and survived, what was their life like afterward? Did things change for the better or worse? Or not at all?
Also, if you don't mind sharing, how long did it take for things to change for them afterward, if they did change?
When I was young, I had a friend that didn't attempt, but called for help because she didn't think she could stop herself anymore. She received immediate medical care, and was in the psychiatric ward for a short stay(I feel it was about a week). They were able to help her identify some major stressors in her life, and were able to help her overcome them. Things got a lot better.
In my 20s, I had a friend who I invited to live with us. He seemed down on his luck. He was across the country, so I couldn't see the warning signs of his mental illnesses, and I took his word for face value and didn't read into his troubles any more than what he told me. He was a long term internet friend, but my husband knew him in 'real life'(it was him who had introduced us).
Without going into too much detail for brevity's sake, he stayed with us for a year or two. He had issues staying employed or seeing to any of the basics of life(hygiene, shopping, etc) and had become abrasive to us(I'm sure, in his defense, he thought we were abrasive, too). I became pregnant with Ares. I told him that I couldn't continue to house and care for him with a newborn on the way. We gave him 5 months notice to find a new living situation.
The next morning, he came upstairs to 'chat', looking white as a ghost. I told him he looked like hell, and asked if he needed to go talk to a doctor. He said don't bother. He'd taken rat poisoning, and would be gone soon. I told him he could go to the hospital in the car with me, or I could call the ambulance. He chose the car, and I rushed him, stopping for him to vomit now and then. He was in intensive care for three days. Then he went to the mental unit, where they kept him for three days, and released him, despite him saying he would attempt again(he was uninsured
)
We'd called his mother during all this. He had to go home.
I always hoped things were better for him. We didn't really keep contact. I hear through the grapevine he'd gotten evicted from his mother's for bad hygiene practices(they really were extreme), and that he'd gone to live in a major city with a friend, and that he'd patched things up with his ex. He'd always liked that city and I know he missed his ex, so I am optimistic for him(though close to a decade has likely passed since this happened).