The Season We Miss: Understanding Suicide Risk in Late Spring

I was talking with a client recently who said, “I have more energy right now, but I don’t feel better. If anything, I feel worse.”

Unfortunately its not an uncommon topic this time of year.

There is more light! People are outside again. Folks are super busy with sports and graduations and planning summer events. From the outside, it can look like things are moving in the right direction. But Inside, it can feel very different.

One thing we don’t talk about enough is when suicide risk actually tends to increase. For adults in the United States, the highest rates tend to show up in late spring and early summer. Many people expect the hardest time to be winter, when everything feels heavy and slow. We do not have one clear answer for why this shift happens. What we do have are patterns, clinical observations, and a few strong theories that help us make sense of it.

Sometimes Energy Returns Before Hope

Spring is often described as a season of growth and renewal. For many people living with depression or trauma, the shift can feel unsettling in the body.During the winter months, depression often brings a kind of shutdown. In polyvagal terms, this is a dorsal vagal state. The system pulls inward, energy drops, and everything can feel flat or far away.

As the season changes, the nervous system often shifts with it. There can be more activation, more movement, and more internal pressure. This is where we start to see sympathetic activation, what I often describe to clients as the body’s "watchdog" (thanks Robyn Gobbel) turning back on. There is energy again, but it is paired with tension, urgency, and a lack of felt safety.

I often explain this using the idea of a window of tolerance, a concept from Dan Siegel’s work. When we are inside that window, things feel more manageable. We can think clearly, feel our emotions, and stay connected to ourselves and other people. When we move outside of it, we tend to either shut down or feel overwhelmed.

In the winter, many people are pushed toward shutdown, below their window (think bedrotting.) In the spring, the system can swing upward into activation, above the window, where the watchdog is loud and the body feels restless or on edge. But when the system shifts out of shutdown without enough support to come back into that window, risk can increase. Someone who felt too depleted to act on suicidal thoughts may now have the activation to act on them, even though the pain underneath has not shifted.

Shame Makes It Hard to Say Out Loud

Shame has a powerful way of keeping people quiet.

Many people who experience suicidal thoughts carry a belief that something about them is fundamentally wrong. They may feel like a burden or worry about how others will respond if they are honest. These beliefs often build over time and are shaped by many different experiences, including moments where vulnerability felt exposed, misunderstood, or hard to hold.

In some faith communities, suicide is still talked about in ways that center judgment. People can walk away feeling afraid of how they will be seen by others or by God. I have sat with people who were carrying both emotional pain and spiritual fear at the same time. That combination can feel incredibly isolating.

At the same time, spirituality can be a meaningful source of support; a sense of connection to something larger, whether that is faith, nature, community, or ancestry, can help people feel less alone inside their pain. When that connection is grounded in compassion and belonging, it can support regulation and resilience.

This is an important place for communities and leaders to lean toward care, curiosity, and connection.

Your Nervous System Feels the Season Too

Seasonal shifts do not just affect mood, they also affect the body.

Spring brings changes in light, temperature, and allergens. Research shows that inflammation and seasonal allergies can increase symptoms of depression. From a polyvagal lens, inflammation can keep the nervous system in a more activated state, which can feel like constant background stress.

Sleep often shifts as daylight increases, and disrupted sleep alone can impact emotional regulation and coping.

There is also growing awareness around how environmental changes affect mental health. Rapid temperature swings and longer daylight hours can influence mood, especially for people who are already managing trauma, bipolar patterns, or chronic anxiety.

The body is responding to a changing environment, and for some people, that shift can feel overwhelming.

How to Show Up for Someone

You do not need to be a therapist to help support someone. What matters most is your willingness to stay present and help create a sense of safety.

From an attachment and nervous system perspective, people move back into their window of tolerance through connection with another steady, regulated person. You do not have to get it perfect. You just have to be with them in a way that feels grounded and real.

• Pay attention to changes Notice shifts in behavior, mood, or patterns. Withdrawal, irritability, or giving things away can be signals that someone is struggling.

• Ask directly It is okay to ask, “Are you thinking about suicide?” Clear and direct questions create space for honesty and let someone know you can handle the truth.

• Stay with them, not ahead of them You do not have to solve the pain. You can sit with someone and say, “I’m here with you.” That kind of presence helps quiet the watchdog and supports the nervous system in settling.

• Offer connection in simple ways A short text, a walk, sitting nearby, or checking in consistently can help someone feel less alone and more anchored.

• Help widen their support circle Encourage connection with other safe people and supports. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911 and ask for a Crisis Intervention Team if available. You can also reach out to 988 for support as the helper. Also support your friend accessing professional help.

  
  

Warning Signs to Take Seriously

Talking about feeling hopeless or like a burden

• Pulling away from people or activities

• Increased use of alcohol or drugs

• Changes in sleep patterns

• Noticeable mood shifts

• Saying goodbye, giving things away, or preparing for an ending

  
  

If you notice these patterns, reaching out early can help interrupt isolation.

This time of year can bring more movement in the body while pain still feels close to the surface. That is a combination that can feel confusing and intense. Support often begins with connection. It looks like asking direct questions, staying present, and allowing space for real conversations.

Reaching out to someone or letting someone in takes courage. Those moments of connection can help create enough safety for someone to keep going. The most courageous thing any of us can do is reach out, or reach back. It can look like asking hard questions, sitting with someone in their pain without turning away, and saying the words that shame tries to keep hidden.

If we are going to save lives this summer, it will happen in those moments of connection. It will happen when someone feels seen, when someone feels less alone, and when someone stays.

*Alexa Griffith, LMHC, LCAC, NCC, RPT is a Licensed Mental Health Therapist. Alexa enjoys providing individual counseling and family counseling. She also provides play therapy for children, as well as teen and adolescent counseling via telehealth or in office. Alexa's practice serves the Indianapolis area, including Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Zionsville, and Westfield. Learn more at AlexaGTherapy.com