Prevention
Early detection and treatment are the best ways to prevent suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. If signs, symptoms, or risk factors are detected early then the individual might seek treatment and help before attempting to take their own life. In a study of individuals who did commit suicide, 91% of them likely had one or more mental illnesses. However, only 35% of those individuals were treated or being treated for a mental illness. This emphasizes the importance of early detection; if a mental illness is detected, it can be treated and controlled to help prevent suicide attempts. Another study investigated strictly suicidal ideation in adolescents. This study found that depression symptoms in adolescents early as 9th grade is a predictor of suicidal ideation. Most people with long-term suicidal ideation do not seek professional help.The previously mentioned studies point out the difficulty that mental health professionals have in motivating individuals to seek and continue treatment. Ways to increase the number of individuals who seek treatment may include:

Increasing the availability of therapy treatment in early stage
Increasing the publics knowledge on when psychiatric help may be beneficial to them
Those who have adverse life conditions seem to have just as much risk of suicide as those with mental illnessA study conducted by researchers in Australia set out to determine a course of early detection for suicidal ideation in teens stating that "risks associated with suicidality require an immediate focus on diminishing self-harming cognitions so as to ensure safety before attending to the underlying etiology of the behavior".
One study found that 73% of patients with borderline personality disorder have attempted suicide, with the average patient having 3.4 attempts. The following list includes the disorders that have been shown to be the strongest predictors of suicidal ideation. These are not the only disorders that can increase risk of suicidal ideation. The disorders in which risk is increased the greatest include:
Anxiety disorders
Autism spectrum disorder
Major depressive disorder: 162 
Dysthymia
Bipolar disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD): 278 
Personality disorders
Psychosis (detachment from reality)
Paranoia
Schizophrenia: 104 
Substance use disorders, inhalant use disorder: 538 
Body dysmorphic disorder: 245 
Nightmare disorder: 405 
Gender dysphoria: 454 
Conduct disorder: 473 
Specific learning disorder: 70

Medication side effects
Antidepressant medications are commonly used to decrease the symptoms in patients with moderate to severe clinical depression, and some studies indicate a connection between suicidal thoughts and tendencies and taking antidepressants, increasing the risk of suicidal thoughts in some patients.Some medications, such as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), can have suicidal ideation as a side effect. Moreover, these drugs intended effects, can themselves have unintended consequence of an increased individual risk and collective rate of suicidal behavior: Among the set of persons taking the medication, a subset feel bad enough to want to attempt suicide (or to desire the perceived results of suicide) but are inhibited by depression-induced symptoms, such as lack of energy and motivation, from following through with an attempt.