For those with dark thoughts, talking could be a step towards the light

Celebrity suicides inevitably get a lot of publicity. The actor-singer Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing's suicide in 2003 caused anguish among his many fans. The recent suicide attempts by British actor and writer Stephen Fry and Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, may have shocked close friends and family who may not have realised how serious their problems were.

Fry, unusually, went public with an explanation about his lifelong battle with depression. He said he was able to wear a psychological mask to disguise his true feelings. When asked why he had tried to kill himself, he said "Why?" is the wrong question. "There's no reason. If there were a reason for it, you could reason someone out of it, and you could tell them why they shouldn't take their own life."

Why didn't Fry ask his many friends and family for help? His explanation was simply that his desperation was not something he could talk about with people he knew. Did he feel they would judge him? Of course. Was he fearful of their advice? Probably.

Suicidal feelings are immensely difficult to talk about. Distress which may have its roots in loneliness, physical illness, divorce, financial problems, family break-up, abuse, or in mental health issues, can be very hard to talk about with people you know well.

Counselling and psychotherapy use various types of "talk therapy", some of which have become familiar in popular culture. They recognise the value of exploring feelings as part of the process of helping and seeking solutions to distress.

Of course, talking through the emotional distress may not be enough. But for some people, the opportunity to say things that you cannot say to your friends and family can be cathartic. Hong Kong offers a number of suicide prevention telephone hotlines, including The Samaritans (multilingual service), Suicide Prevention Services (in Chinese) and The Samaritan Befrienders (in Chinese), which people can call in times of distress.