Brother is suicidal and I don't know what to do

[pcofmushu]

Hi all,
Long story short my brother has struggled with his MH for a few years now. It all seemed to be triggered by a break-up and to this day he says that is where where his problems have stemmed from.
He is in his early 20s.
He works full time and goes to the gym regularly. He eats well and has some good friends around him.
He is on the highest dose of AD's and says nothing is working. Yesterday he told me that he sees no value, purpose or meaning in life. He said all he thinks about is how he can end it, and that he would rather have a terminal illness as something that will "put me out of this state".

It breaks my heart as his big sister. I just want to me able to take this pain away from him. I can see the mental torment he battles just to make it through each day and I seriously don't know what I can do or say to help him.

To be fair to him he is really trying everything that can he suggested. I just feel lost, helpless and desperate to help my brother.

Thank you in advance xx

I can’t help you but going through exactly the same situation with my younger brother today and I just don’t know what to do either . On the outside everything with my brother looks fine but he makes similar statements and seems to be in same frame of mind as your brother . It is a hellish situation sorry I can’t be of any help .

I'm not sure there is much more you can do apart from being there for him and being willing to listen and talk if he needs it.

It's a good sign that he's open with you about his struggles, at least.

@SylviasMotherSaid

I can’t help you but going through exactly the same situation with my younger brother today and I just don’t know what to do either . On the outside everything with my brother looks fine but he makes similar statements and seems to be in same frame of mind as your brother . It is a hellish situation sorry I can’t be of any help .

I'm sorry to hear that you are going through this too. It is really difficult isn't it? You can't "un-hear" what he's told you, and it's always in the back of your mind when you look at him. I'm sorry I can't be of any help to you but we can always use this post to vent our own thoughts. Xx

I know do you have any other family support ? My DM literally can’t cope with anything about my brother and flings money at him and our dad is elderly and unwell so I don’t want to burden him but it’s very lonely to deal with . You just don’t know what to say apart from listen and hope that in time their mental state improves .

If he's willing to do anything, that's a really good sign that he wants to beat it.

I've just started training with Tim Box (ironically as a result of a Google search on anxiety prompted by a post on MN) and he is excellent. The initial consultation is free and can be done by video;

thecontrolsystem.co.uk/book-a-session

Here's one of his videos on depression -

Has his doctor suggested he come off his current antidepressant and try another one?