What do peri-suicidal thoughts mean

[User5543355]

I’ve had it written in a letter about me?

I've never heard the term 'peri-suicidal' (but I don't work in this area anymore). Usually we would discuss suicidal ideation, and it would generally mean thinking about suicide or expressing a desire to take your life, but without making any plans to do so.

I can see it being used if you had expressed to someone that you, for example, felt so hopeless you didn't want to live anymore, or saying 'I just can't go on' or 'I wish I could die' or 'Some days I don't want to even wake up the next day'. All of these, of course, can be misinterpreted. And I think we don't always say these sorts of things and mean we actually want to take our own lives, but obviously it's up to health care professionals or whoever to make the best interpretations they can to safeguard people.

Peri is used as a suffix to indicate leading up to something (eg the perinatal period leading up to birth, the peri menopausal period leading up to menopause) so in this instance would indicate thoughts that could occur in the lead up to a period of suicidality (eg wishing you weren’t alive).
It’s an odd term though, as thoughts of that type can frequently exist without progressing to suicidal thoughts