Suggestion about suicide prevention

[Catholic_Lady]

Hi, just thought it might be good to have a page or section addressing what to do if a member here is threatening suicide. Facebook has something like this,  which provides numbers you can call to get help for the person or links that offer some info about how to handle the situation.

[Nope]

Someone might feel safe talking about it anonymously on a forum when they might be afraid to even bring the subject up on Facebook. For some people, the privacy might guarantee that they will listen to strangers when they might not want to talk to friends and family. It is hard to know sometimes how to help the most. If you called the police is the person going to stop talking so that there is no warning next time? Or if you don't call the police, you risk the person hurting themselves.

[Catholic_Lady]

Someone might feel safe talking about it anonymously on a forum when they might be afraid to even bring the subject up on Facebook.  For some people, the privacy might guarantee that they will listen to strangers when they might not want to talk to friends and family. It is hard to know sometimes how to help the most. If you called the police is the person going to stop talking so that there is no warning next time? Or if you don't call the police, you risk the person hurting themselves.

You raise a very good point, of which I had not thought of. Perhaps you are right.

EDITED. (I meant YOU raise a good point lol)

[Aoi Magi]

This forum isn't exactly the best place to prevent suicides, the member base seems to have more experience doing the opposite. Plus we have members from all over the world, so trying to help everyone remotely ain't possible. The admins can probably look up the user's country of origin and notify the local authority, but the forum doesn't collect any personally identifying info other than the IP address and any other info the user willingly provides, and it cannot intrude on someone's privacy. So the only thing we possibly can do is facilitate the member in letting out his/her frustrations and trying to understand them as much as we can.

[LastPoet]

Ditto. We are not qualified nor this is the best venue to help people with such problems, i am afraid

[Catholic_Lady]

Ditto. We are not qualified nor this is the best venue to help people with such problems, i am afraid

Oh I agree. My suggestion was to provide links/numbers where you could call professionals for help.

[Spooky]

Oh I agree. My suggestion was to provide links/numbers where you could call professionals for help.

I would support this. The point being that online friends often mean as much as IRL friends. This situation could come up, and having a plan or procedure is prudent.

[Aoi Magi]

Oh I agree. My suggestion was to provide links/numbers where you could call professionals for help.

I would support this.  The point being that online friends often mean as much as IRL friends.  This situation could come up, and having a plan or procedure is prudent.

Thing is, people come here from all over the world. Some places don't even have these facilities, and even if they do, it would be a huge list for the forum staff/members to maintain and keep updated. Besides, what are we to do with said numbers when we don't have any personally identifying info on the person? How do we know which number to use for which member? And I don't think the authorities can do much even if we tell them "a member with username XYZ is attempting suicide". Unless we begin collecting the necessary info from all members, an instant google search might be more helpful than a potentially outdated link-list.

[AFTT47]

Hi, just thought it might be good to have a page or section addressing  what to do if a member here is threatening suicide.

This is a good idea. I fear it is premature, however. The mental health community as a whole and society in general are in flux as to how to deal with this. It is becoming more and more recognized that depression is more often a result of out-of-balance brain chemistry than situational emotional state. It doesn't seem to be well understood though. Casual suicidal thoughts seem to be common. How do we separate them from the much less common situation where the person is seriously contemplating suicide and not just reaching out for help?

I've been through this myself. When I lived in the Florida Keys, working as a tour boat captain, I found myself in a bad financial situation. This coupled with the fact that I do not have a healthy attitude toward physical aging. I enjoyed my physical youth and am very bitter about the loss of it. I have still not come to terms with this. I cut loose all my affairs and fled to Cocoa Beach, Florida. This was an area I had lived previously and had very fond memories of. I got a room in a hotel and resigned to off myself when my money ran out. When the day came, my cowardice won over and I sought help. So here I am.

I'm now in a totally different situation, back with my wife in a totally different part of the U.S. (Phoenix, AZ) whom I was estranged from for 23 years. So here I am. I'm definitely not as happy and fulfilled as I was back in those days as a young (early 30s), single guy on the beach. I wish I could go back there but I can't. I can only make the best of what I have.

All we can do is make the best of the life we have. Ultimately, I think it's up to each of us to decide on whether that's enough to overcome an innate fear of death. But we'll all face death eventually - whether we want to or not.

[Spooky]

I would support this.  The point being that online friends often mean as much as IRL friends.  This situation could come up, and having a plan or procedure is prudent.

Thing is, people come here from all over the world. Some places don't even have these facilities, and even if they do, it would be a huge list for the forum staff/members to maintain and keep updated. Besides, what are we to do with said numbers when we don't have any personally identifying info on the person? How do we know which number to use for which member? And I don't think the authorities can do much even if we tell them "a member with username XYZ is attempting suicide". Unless we begin collecting the necessary info from all members, an instant google search might be more helpful than a potentially outdated link-list.

Fair enough.  Though in the end, I'm still not opposed to there at least being an attempt at a resource.