Suicide prevention and intervention: a call to all doctors.

Why do people take their own lives? To survive is the most basic human instinct; to take one’s own life is against this instinct. Imagine you are standing on the rooftop of a tall building and there is nothing between you and the fall to death! The normal response is fear and the step to take is to walk back. What does it take to overcome that fear and to jump down? The most important and common answer is emotion: negative emotions.