Talking to my therapist about suicidal thoughts

i had this concern for a long time, too. i think it's important, like others here have said, to emphasize that your struggle with suicidal thoughts are passive ideations and that you do not intend to follow through with them. it helps to also mention that you don't have any plans in the back of your head to commit to it. i think this helps put your state of mind into better perspective without immediately ringing red alerts. i'm sorry you're struggling, OP. cheering for you.

They will hospitalize you only if they think you are a threat to yourself or others. You could stress how unlikely you are to follow through but that you are still having these thoughts pop up

“I do not plan on acting on these feelings. I do not have a plan to hurt myself. I have *abc list of responsibilities* I know I have to stay on this earth for, and I couldn’t do that to my family. Nonetheless, I am struggling with thoughts of suicide. I am able to fight them off on my own, but I need your help reasoning with these thoughts.” Has worked with my therapist. Keep in mind they may want to medicate you/ send you to a psychiatrist.

I've told my therapist about mine. I believe as long as you don't have a solid plan they won't hospitalize you.

I was always scared to tell my psychiatrist about this so I started out by just telling her in the past tense to gauge her reaction. I would say that I was have suicidal thoughts but not anymore or that I get them sometimes.

I agree with this so hard. Nobody listens without freaking out

Well what I did is I mentioned them before saying that I was not acting on them that they were just thoughts. She did ask further about them, the frequency, if I did act on them, if I wanted too, etc. Just tell the therapist that they are just thoughts, you have no plans on acting on them, you are not a threat to yourselves but be truthful and answer truthfully. They only call the psych ward if they feel you are a threat to yourself or will act on those thoughts.

I was honest with mine and let them know that those thoughts do get inside sometimes