Martin believes almost all suicides are preventable and Smith shares that view, though she warns the window for prevention can be much smaller in some cases. Smith agrees, noting that asking someone if they’re suicidal won't make them suicidal, but opens the door for conversation, she says. Those affected by a loved one’s suicide may realize there’s probably nothing they could have done differently to prevent it, he says. Martin hopes his book helps suicide-attempt survivors who are still struggling and people who are thinking about making an attempt. When I do have thoughts of suicide, rather than thinking, ‘Doesn’t that sound like a relief?’ - as I thought all my life - I think, ‘No, that’s a bad idea for you, Clancy.’ I’m able to look at the thought and be with the thought, but have no temptation to act on it.” Clancy Martin is a multiple suicide attempt survivor and the author of 'How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind.” Courtesy Lauren Schrader “My suicidal ideation has dropped off like it’s never been before in my life.

I’m incredibly relieved that all the attempts failed,” Martin, 56, who is a professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, tells. Martin, a husband and father of five, says he’s glad to be alive today. That incident opens his new book - a memoir with the startling title “ How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind.”

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