It may be necessary that treatment for suicide occur on a societal level (such as more restrictive gun control and more caution in media coverage). On an individual level, crisis centers and hotlines known as prevention centers exist in order to help people through immediate crises and refer them to psychologists. Various forms of psychotherapy such as cognitive, behavioral, psychoanalytic, and family therapy all attempt to identify and cope with the problems that have led the individual to the current suicidal state. Therapy usually involves the four steps of reducing lethality, which includes feelings of psychological pain and access to harmful means of committing suicide; negotiating agreements, such as forming contracts with the patients; providing support; and replacing the person's "tunnel vision" with a broader perspective.

Medications used to treat mental disorders such as antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs are also an important form of intervention for suicide. Because of the relationship between suicide and serotonin, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been shown to lower rates of suicide, especially when used to treat depression. However, there been no placebo-controlled studies to test these results, and, more troubling, it has also been shown that the use of SSRIs can produce a lethal type of suicidal idealization.

Finally, involuntary or voluntary hospitalization, with the safety of the patient as its primary concern and where the patient's behavior can be closely monitored, is also a form of treatment used for individuals in serious danger of harming themselves.