I'm glad this is on the front page. Often when I learn of the suicide of someone I knew or respected I briefly experience idle "sympathetic" suicidal thoughts. This always leaves me shaken because we've all been taught to seek help immediately if we ever experience suicidal thoughts, but I know I'm not depressed, even if life is indeed very difficult sometimes. I imagine someone truly depressed and suicidal might experience a very strong impulse to act on their thoughts upon hearing news like this.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
21–30 of 58 posts
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#22I kind of find it in poor taste to post this link at this point in time. Just my thoughts.
The intention is to help others contemplating the same thing. Who knows, this may help one person out there turn their life around.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#23The one at MIT, Nightline, was smart because it pitched itself as a general "call for any reason at night" number -- I called a couple times to get urgent help (after someone tried unsuccessfully to mug me, and I needed to figure out who to report to) -- not just for suicidal people. I suspect there are depressed people who may ultimately kill themselves who, if there were some number solely for "suicidal people", wo…
I think you're right that it needs to be more general support, someone I loved had just the last 7% of her life 'covered' by suicide hotlines and 26 years of suffering before them. The final days, weeks, months, it was all just a delaying measure at that point because she'd already come to terms with what she wanted to do.
I don't really think the solution is more hotlines, even generalized ones because you have to want to get help every single time. I think the solution is to shine so much light on mental illness it loses all of the mystery and stigma and becomes as widely discussed and debated as the following 'mentally healthy' ways to kill yourself or someone else:
- Euthanasia, or "mercy" killing because we are glad someone's suffering has ended
- Abortion, literally deciding to end another person's life who is incapable of asking you not to
And of course, the preferred method of suicide that most people will use:
- a slow poison of shitty diets and deadly vices
We never even discussed mental illness or even suicide in high school like we did ethical dilemmas.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#24I kind of find it in poor taste to post this link at this point in time. Just my thoughts.
It is part of media regulations in many countries/organisations that reporting of suicide must be done in certain ways to reduce the negative effect that may have on potentially vulnerable people. A full list of countries that enforce this on a national level is available from the International Association for Suicide Prevention http://www.iasp.info/media_guidelines.php
One of these requirements is any story involving to suicide or mental health must be accompanied by information about 24-hour crisis support services http://www.mindframe-media.info/for-media/adding-helplines-t...
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#25I'm glad this is on the front page. Often when I learn of the suicide of someone I knew or respected I briefly experience idle "sympathetic" suicidal thoughts. This always leaves me shaken because we've all been taught to seek help immediately if we ever experience suicidal thoughts, but I know I'm not depressed, even if life is indeed very difficult sometimes. I imagine someone truly depressed and suicidal might exp…
In Germany we call it Werther Effekt (following Goethe's novel Die Leiden des Jungen Werther). Public attention to a suicide often triggers additional suicides.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#26Not trying to be facetious here, but are there some kind of statistics somewhere out there that show how effective suicide hotlines are? I always hear about them, but have yet to hear about someone who used one successfully. E.g. X% of people have been dissuaded by suicide attempts after speaking to a suicide hotline.
I would imagine that in reality the percentage of callers that actually intend to commit suicide is probably pretty low, regardless of 'studies'. How are you going to really study something like that objectively? I can't imagine that anyone would ever hear about someone who used one successfully. Only the actual suicides are going to make the news like this, which is sad. However, I would think it would be worth it even if a hotline is only able to dissuade even 1/10000 callers intent on committing suicide.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#27The one at MIT, Nightline, was smart because it pitched itself as a general "call for any reason at night" number -- I called a couple times to get urgent help (after someone tried unsuccessfully to mug me, and I needed to figure out who to report to) -- not just for suicidal people. I suspect there are depressed people who may ultimately kill themselves who, if there were some number solely for "suicidal people", wo…
We have a Nightline at University of Leeds for anyone to call for anything. It's a great thing for people who just need someone to talk to. Whether they're feeling suicidal or just a bit stressed over exams.
And the number is on the back of every student ID, which means anyone can find their number really easily.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#28Not trying to be facetious here, but are there some kind of statistics somewhere out there that show how effective suicide hotlines are? I always hear about them, but have yet to hear about someone who used one successfully. E.g. X% of people have been dissuaded by suicide attempts after speaking to a suicide hotline.
Here we call them something like a 'crisis line'. They aren't just for people who are considering suicide; I have had friends with extreme anxiety who phoned to talk through their fears. This helped them work through crippling anxiety attacks and allowed them to go to class, work, etc. afterwards.
The people on these lines are very well trained at active listening, and that can be useful in a lot of mental health situations where suicide may never have been the end result.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#29Not trying to be facetious here, but are there some kind of statistics somewhere out there that show how effective suicide hotlines are? I always hear about them, but have yet to hear about someone who used one successfully. E.g. X% of people have been dissuaded by suicide attempts after speaking to a suicide hotline.
I actually worked for the national hotline as a volunteer. I worked at a local crisis hotline in the Maryland area, and each one of these places ties into the national hotline, as it does (and please feel free to troll me) a round-robin process and tries to find the closest center given the area code of the caller. I personally handled less than a dozen of these calls. I cannot go into details because we all sign NDA…
Just to clarify, does this mean you don't think it's a worthwhile service? It kind of sounds like you're implying that people who phone aren't really serious, but does it follow then that people should call, or that they shouldn't exist, or what?
I'm very grateful that you volunteered with them, but I'm really curious what conclusion we're supposed to draw from your experience. At worst it sounds slightly dismissive of the line and the people who call.
Re: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
#30I'd be curious to know what they teach the people manning the phones. Sometimes I ponder volunteering, but honestly, atm anybody talking to me would probably be more suicidal afterwards than before.
Are there even universal things to say? Perhaps somebody religious needs to hear "god loves you no matter what", whereas I for example found solace in thinking about atheism and evolution theory. Probably the first talks are not even about such things, rather about convincing the person that most problems are solvable and that they can get help?