I have two friends, both the same age as me One of them, he is my best friend for life, he has ADHD and as such acts up a bit, and people bully him at school and he has recently been diagnosed with depression. He's talked about how he wants to commit suicide and stuff occasionally. Another, she is also a longtime friend of mine, is rather popular but is one of those black comedy enthusiasts and she keeps telling me about how sad she is and she has pretty low self esteem and she's talked about wanting to commit suicide and such. I myself have never had these kinds of feelings and I don't know how I'm supposed to help them, the girl refuses to go to the school counselor or his mom although she did go to a therapist at one time, the guy has as I said been diagnosed so he is on his way to getting help, both of them though I don't know what to do because I can't offer any good advice really because I've tried a lot of things with them, I don't know what to do.
Wow this is a hard one you are in a tough spot , all I can say is be there for them and offer positive thoughts as much as you can I know that can be hard at times . I know that helped me when I was suicidal and that was with in the last 30 days if not for all the support I received I would not be here ! I can also tell you this that they have to want to be helped you can not force anybody to take help if they don't want it . I am sorry this is not very helpful I wish you all the best of luck!!
One thing it's important to remember is that sometimes depression can take a long time to work through, so rather than trying to help fix it, just focus on being there for them and letting them know you'll be there in whatever way they need you. Something that helped me was feeling accepted and being told I'm not broken, screwed up and abnormal - that lots of people struggle and that I can still be loved just the way I am Something you might be able to help with is the negative thought patterns - try to let them know when their thoughts are spiralling down and where you can, break down those thoughts and replace them with more positive ones. There's a tendency to make global statements like 'no one will ever find me attractive', 'I always screw up' or 'I'll never feel better' - acknowledge that that is how they feel right now but also that it's not true, there are people who are attracted to them, things they do successfully, and they have felt happier before and can get back there etc. Sometimes it will feel like you're not getting through or changing anything but I think it was my best friend doing this that helped me start to think more positively best of luck x
About a year ago I had suicidal depression that just popped out of nowhere. If I was you i'd show them these 2 subreddits I don't know where i'd be without them. /r/depression, because nobody should be alone in a dark place http://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch