Tag: suicidal trance

The suicidal trance, a concept developed by psychologist Richard Heckler, describes an altered state of consciousness that can overtake a person in suicidal crisis, narrowing perception so severely that death appears to be the only available option and the normal capacity for problem-solving, perspective, and connection to others becomes temporarily inaccessible. Understanding the suicidal trance helps suicide loss survivors make sense of how someone they loved, someone who had reasons to live and people who loved them, could arrive at the decision they did. It was not a clear-eyed weighing of options. It was a mental state in which options had effectively disappeared. These posts explore what the suicidal trance means for survivors seeking to understand what their loved one experienced in their final hours or days.