Friend commited suicide over Christmas

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A friend who I was just starting to know pretty well commited suicide over the Christmas holiday. I am feeling very sad right now. I wish there had been something I could have said or done to stop him. He had such a promising future, and seemed happy. I had been talking to him a couple nights before about a concert he was giving, and new songs he was going to learn for it. I guess you just never know what's going on inside peoples minds.

Sorry. Its quite possibly the most depressing of all the holidays.

I am sorry too. This is a depressing time of year for certain.

You got it right, we don't know what is going on inside other people's minds. When I've been suicidal people generally don't have a clue. I even fooled my therapist.

There was nothing you could have done cuz he given you no clue that he might even be depressed. I bet it was quite a shock to go from talking about the future to him killing himself. Do you know if it was planned or impulsive. There are only two ways I can figure out what happened. 1) he planned it and was telling people about the future..etc to cover up how he really felt and give no indication of his intentions to kill himself because he was determined that no one would stop him.
2) he was actually planning to future etc etc, but had some intense mental crisis or was under the influence and killed himself rather impulsively.
In either situation, you were not given any indication that your friend was in trouble, therefore there is nothing you could have done to prevent it from happening.
The fact it happened on Christmas day is a good indication it was scenero 1.
We attach so much meaning to this day, so when something really bad happens on Christmas...it just seems to amplify it that much worse.
I am really sorry for the loss of your friend in such a horrible way, but it is in no way your fault. It is common for loved ones in the wake of an unexpected suicide to comb through memories to find what clues they missed. Many times, there arnt any. Some people who are determined to die seem to live a double life up to that point. Even a seasoned mental health professional can be led to believe all is well.

You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Jojo

:/

What is is I guess. If you saw no signs though it sounds like he was quite serious about the decision long-range, had likely thought about it for quite a ways ahead of time, and didn't want anyone changing things.

I'm really sorry that happened. It's an eerie feeling to talk to somebody one day and then find out they died the next day or so later...

Aww man that sucks.

What everyone has said is right, Winter is especially the most depressing time of the year, and it's always a shame when someone has to take their own life.

It sucks even more, because this friend hid this away from you.

Sorry for your loss.

That's awful, wyldragon. But like others have said there's probably nothing you could've done.

There's no way to know, but I think sometimes when things (circumstance/plans) start to look promising after many or a really bad failure can be a sort of set up for disaster. At the first little, familiar sign of things going wrong, again, the same as all the other times, can set off thinking, "I've ridden this roller coaster before and I don't have the wherewithal to do it all over again." So, it could've been something small, from an external POV. But who knows.

Sorry. That's painful. I don't know what else to say.