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U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

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181–190 of 354 posts

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#181
post #172

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> If you're 35, your life is more than half done anyway. Not really

It depends on a lot of factors - some of which are in your control, and some of which ain't. In my case, very few men on my dad's side of the family lived past 60 (and my dad only made it to 54), so in all likelihood my life is indeed already half done.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#183
post #172

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> If you're 35, your life is more than half done anyway. Not really

Your life is subjectively half way over at 16. Dont kid yourself.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#184

What constitutes a 988 emergency? I was raised with a sacrosanct view of 911. Do not call unless it is a bona fide emergency. This means something along the lines of a situation outside my expertise that poses a threat to life. Broadly speaking it ranges from medical, physical, security, and probably a host of other things I'm forgetting. However, I don't have the same instilled ideas about 988. What are the sufficie…

I called 911 once because a large piece of furniture was sitting in the middle of the highway; it felt weird

One time there was a dizzy-looking stray cat sleeping in a puddle near my house and the non-emergency line told me to call 911.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#185

Suicide hotlines, on the surface, seem like a good thing. Having a phone number someone can call 24/7 to talk to someone who is trained in helping someone undergoing a mental health crisis seems like an effective way to reduce suicides and benefit mental health overall. However, I think they have the opposite effect in practice. I suffer from pretty severe depression. It runs in my family and it is something I've str…

As someone else who has battled depression most of my life I have to make it clear that depression is a broad diagnosis. Robert Sapolsky discusses this in depth and why this makes it such a difficult disease to treat[0]. Hotlines will help some people but not for others. Diet and exercise helps some but not others. Medication helps some but not others. There is no singular solution to depression and framing it that w…

> Also, we should also be clear that you are talking about toxic behavior. You isolating yourself when depressed probably isn't the best move.

"Well", said the rich person to the beggar, "being poor really isn't the best move."

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#186
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have experience in this field: I ran technology for one of the only hotlines in the US that didn't engage in non-consensual active rescue [0] [1]. I've written about this a little on this site in the past, when Crisis Text Line was caught sharing data. Many, if not most, of these places give the operator full access to your phone number and whatever geolocation data they can get based on that. They also have polici…

> the police are more likely to come into the situation looking for conflict "We don't have time for this" [0] comes to mind. [0] https://www.insider.com/cop-said-i-dont-have-time-shooting-k...

No post body was provided.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#187
post #168

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> What if you're dealing with someone else suicidal? Just listen and keep listening, without making yourself an emotional burden. Careful with this, it's easy as a partner of someone suffering from this to over time get too impacted by the constant depression talk and walking on egg shells to not say the wrong thing. My recommendation is to help your friend or partner get professional help, if after a couple of month…

You can't save someone if you're drowning yourself. I wasn't really thinking of partners here. I guess I was blessed in that my partners at the worst moments didn't really care that much about me. Getting a partner that has my back was part of getting better. Or put another way, even on the worst days I just couldn't do it now, because I know she'd be destroyed.

Anyway, I think friends and even just acquaintances can do more, even if that seems counterintuitive.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#188
post #172

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> If you're 35, your life is more than half done anyway. Not really

The average US male life expectancy is 75, so: yes, actually.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#189
post #176
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have experience in this field: I ran technology for one of the only hotlines in the US that didn't engage in non-consensual active rescue [0] [1]. I've written about this a little on this site in the past, when Crisis Text Line was caught sharing data. Many, if not most, of these places give the operator full access to your phone number and whatever geolocation data they can get based on that. They also have polici…

> Many, if not most, of these places give the operator full access to your phone number and whatever geolocation data they can get based on that. They also have policies where the operator is allowed/encouraged to call emergency services on you without your ongoing consent, or even without telling you. In my experience talking with others who have been affected by those kinds of policies, this can lead to police brea…

Hi Zhama, I’m not able to fully respond to your comments right now but I read and appreciate them even if I don’t fully agree. And thank you for what you do at CTL.

My post was general, not specific to CTL.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#190

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> Third, if everything seems bleak, get wasted. Probably things will seem less urgent in the morning.

Please do not do this. Suicide and being drunk are very correlated. If you have a firearm in the house, or even if not, this is the single worst thing you can do for your own survival.

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