Objectives Men are almost two times more likely to die by suicide than women, yet little research has focused on what is required to prevent suicide among men. This paper aims to investigate what factors interrupt suicidal behaviour in men, and to examine differences according to known suicide risk factors.

Setting Australia.

Participants 251 Australian men aged 18 years and over who had made a suicide attempt 6–18 months prior to completing the survey.

Outcomes The survey canvassed the language men use to describe their depression and suicidality, warning signs, barriers to accessing help and what is needed to interrupt a suicide attempt. ORs and χ² were used to test for differences by age, geographic location and current depression severity.

Results Of 299 men screened and eligible to participate, 251 completed all or part of the survey. Participants identified different words and warning signs for depression compared with suicidality. The most commonly endorsed barriers to accessing help were not wanting to burden others (66%) and having isolated themselves (63%). Men overwhelmingly endorsed ‘I thought about the consequences for my family’ as the factor which stopped a suicide attempt (67%). ‘I need support from someone I really trust and respect’ was also strongly endorsed. There were few differences by age, region or depression severity.

Conclusions Participants were able to identify signs, albeit often subtle ones, that they were becoming depressed or suicidal. Similarly, most were able to identify active strategies to interrupt this downward spiral. Men wanted others to notice changes in their behaviour, and to approach them without judgement.