Help Does professional help really helps you?

[tortinhadelimao]

I have been a suicidal person since I was 12 years old and I never really went to a psychologist for very long. I wasn't that depressed and eventually stopped thinking about killing myself, but now in the year of 2024/2025 suicidal thoughts again started to appear in my mind for some several personal reasons and won't leave me alone, just like the feeling like shit and sad all the time, even in happy situations when I would feel happy back then.

I would just kill myself if I hadn't such a lovely boyfriend that cares for me so much and insists to me find some physiological help. I'd like to hear some feedback from people who have already sought or are currently seeking professional help. Does it really help you? Is it really possible for it to cure suicidal thoughts? I feel like I wouldn't be able to heal my ailing mind.

 

[braintorture]

The long answer: NO.
The short answer: temporarily.

 

[yufu]

I doubt it

 

[Lamentice]

Is it really possible for it to cure suicidal thoughts?

Medication can do this, however, that's a treatment not a cure. But that's a journey as well; many people have to go through trial and error with different medications and doses for years until they find one that works, and works without causing them to feel braindead and apathetic.

On the note of your larger question... it depends. The system isn't designed to be helpful or rehabilitative, it's designed to exploit & discard. Still, some people find it helpful, being on medication, seeing therapists and psychiatrists. It's expensive, and you have to find the right medication, the right therapist, and the right psychiatrist.

I encourage someone who doesn't feel fully committed to exiting to exhaust all other options they can. So honestly, I say try it out, give it a fair shake & go on the Goldilocks journey.

 

[Dome42315]

It can help, but I think it depends on the person. Treatment resistant depression is common, but so is depression that isn't refractory to treatment. And even treatment resistant depression can sometimes be treated by a second or third line treatment. I'd give it a try if you can. I think it's worth noting that people who do have their depression treated are probably more likely to either not be on Sasu or have left the site, so I think you're going to get a lot of people here who treatment has not anecdotally worked (Admittedly, it hasn't really worked for me as well).

Anyway, I think at least giving it a try isn't a bad idea! You can decide what to do afterwards.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

(Admittedly, it hasn't really worked for me as well)

If it's not too personal and you feel comfortable sharing this, could you tell me why it didn't work for you? I really want to assess whether it's worth spending my time and money on this.

Btw, thank you for answering! :)

 

[kuroshimi]

In 2024 I finally got treatment and started taking medication. I felt better and slowly got off the meds. But recently depression struck again. Probably I should give another try, but I don't see the point.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

In 2024 I finally got treatment and started taking medication. I felt better and slowly got off the meds. But recently depression struck again. Probably I should give another try, but I don't see the point.

So it makes you feel better for a while but it doesn't really cure the depression?

 

[kuroshimi]

So it makes you feel better for a while but it doesn't really cure the depression?

I think so.

 

[fruitninjamaster]

I love my therapist and she does a lot for me in short term and during our sessions, the problem is that I no longer believe I can be cured(it's been years) and she needs me to commit to life and healing, I cannot do that.

 

[LastNite]

Same answer as @braintorture
It'll help you feel less worse for a bit, but when you quit it you'll just fall back to where you were before emotionally speaking.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

I love my therapist and she does a lot for me in short term and during our sessions, the problem is that I no longer believe I can be cured(it's been years) and she needs me to commit to life and healing, I cannot do that.

Do you think you feel better since you started the sessions?

By the way, even though we don't know each other, I fully believe in your healing and hope you achieve it soon. :)

 

[ifihadnever]

For me...caused me more harm than ever good!

 

[alwayspissedoff]

it's been almost a year since I started to take into account my mental health, first with therapy, then with a psychiatrist who gave me meds.
they haven't helped me, I'm still regularly on ss after all.

therapy for me is talking to someone who I don't know nor trust and who doesn't know me, about mundane things that don't help me at all, because I won't speak about what's really bothering me because I have felt exposed when I have done so, and they don't understand me anyways, they just say things that don't mean anything to me.
maybe for other people it can be of big help, not for me.

psychiatrists will give meds to anyone who will pay for an appointment and say "i feel shitty", I swear. and for me they haven't truly helped, I just take them to make my family happy that I'm taking them. they can be really expensive, and there's no guarantee that they will help, and they can even make things worse with side effects.

I've been so tolerant with this help system and it has done nothing but fail me.

 

[divinemistress36]

Like others have said. It does temporarily.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

it's been almost a year since I started to take into account my mental health, first with therapy, then with a psychiatrist who gave me meds.
they haven't helped me, I'm still regularly on ss after all.

therapy for me is talking to someone who I don't know nor trust and who doesn't know me, about mundane things that don't help me at all, because I won't speak about what's really bothering me because I have felt exposed when I have done so, and they don't understand me anyways, they just say things that don't mean anything to me.
maybe for other people it can be of big help, not for me.

psychiatrists will give meds to anyone who will pay for an appointment and say "i feel shitty", I swear. and for me they haven't truly helped, I just take them to make my family happy that I'm taking them. they can be really expensive, and there's no guarantee that they will help, and they can even make things worse with side effects.

I've been so tolerant with this help system and it has done nothing but fail me.

I understand about the thing about feeling exposed, I am really bad at talking about my own feelings and don't feel very comfortable to talk about it, specially out loud.

However, I think it might start to help you if you gathered a little more courage so that, even gradually, you could begin to talk about the things that really bother you. Does that makes sense to you?

I'm sorry It might sound obvious or anything, but if you don't talk about these things with professionals who want to help you, they have no way of reaching you, y'know?

I hope you find your cure soon.

 

[fruitninjamaster]

Do you think you feel better since you started the sessions?

By the way, even though we don't know each other, I fully believe in your healing and hope you achieve it soon. :)

Once I found the right person yes, unfortunately I have mommy issues and this therapist has become my mother, I trust her whole heartedly and share things with her I would never say to the people in my life, she is the reason I am still alive and has coached me and my family through some of my hardest moments.

If you are considering getting help and believe you want/can strive for a better life, DO IT!

One thing to note is that it took three try's to find my perfect someone, I had an autism screening and she was the one who did it, already ready to work with people like me.

If you begin the search, look for someone who knows how to work with suicidal thoughts, everyone has their specialty. If someone doesn't feel good, AT ANY POINT, you have the power to switch.

feel free to PM me with any questions, I could talk about this for hours. I am so happy you want help!

also no one needs to mention to me the kind of creepy relationship with my therapist, I have no one else.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

For me...caused me more harm than ever good!

Could you tell me why?

 

[alwayspissedoff]

I understand about the thing about feeling exposed, I am really bad at talking about my own feelings and don't feel very comfortable to talk about it, specially out loud.

However, I think it might start to help you if you gathered a little more courage so that, even gradually, you could begin to talk about the things that really bother you. Does that makes sense to you?

I'm sorry It might sound obvious or anything, but if you don't talk about these things with professionals who want to help you, they have no way of reaching you, y'know?

I hope you find your cure soon.

maybe I didn't phrase it correctly, but I have talked about more deep things. they don't understand me. many things that truly bothere me are very specific things that they obviously don't know about, so they just go "oh, yeah, hm".
thanks for trying to help, though.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

maybe I didn't phrase it correctly, but I have talked about more deep things. they don't understand me. many things that truly bothere me are very specific things that they obviously don't know about, so they just go "oh, yeah, hm".
thanks for trying to help, though.

Oh yeah I got it. In this case I think it would be better for you if you could change your therapist.

I'm sorry if I'm meddling in things that aren't my business. I just like helping people.

 

[ifihadnever]

Could you tell me why?

Well my experience was very negative and traumatic as I got locked up and drugged up against my will and ive never recovered. So, I may not be the best person to ask.

If you are talking in terms of therapy, I never found a Cognitive approach helpful as found it quite invalidating, it might help some people but Im unsure of how sustainable it would in the long term.

Ive also had psychodynamic therapy - which ruined me and actually lead to my break down. Partly because of the therapeutic style and partly because the therapist pushed me so so hard I couldn't cope.

Ive never found a medication helpful and don't believe in the 'chemical imbalance' theory but wouldn't dismiss others experiences if they find it helpful.

I do speak to a lady who is therapy trained on an adhoc basis and she is lovely, she mainly just listens so nothing actually 'improves' but im grateful to have someone who does listen as ive found a lot of therapist work to their own agenda.

Overall, ive had pretty bad experiences that have actually been harmful but that's not to say that everyone's experience will be like this so I don't want you to think a professional wouldn't be helpful to you. Maybe they would be. Is it a therapist you are looking for? If so, I know where I am a lot offer a free 15 minute phone call - might be worth you getting a feel for the person and if you think you've feel comfortable with them.

Sorry, if ive come across as negative, dont let it put you off seeking help. But if it is private therapy then search around for someone you feel comfortable with.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

Once I found the right person yes, unfortunately I have mommy issues and this therapist has become my mother, I trust her whole heartedly and share things with her I would never say to the people in my life, she is the reason I am still alive and has coached me and my family through some of my hardest moments.

If you are considering getting help and believe you want/can strive for a better life, DO IT!

One thing to note is that it took three try's to find my perfect someone, I had an autism screening and she was the one who did it, already ready to work with people like me.

If you begin the search, look for someone who knows how to work with suicidal thoughts, everyone has their specialty. If someone doesn't feel good, AT ANY POINT, you have the power to switch.

feel free to PM me with any questions, I could talk about this for hours. I am so happy you want help!

also no one needs to mention to me the kind of creepy relationship with my therapist, I have no one else.

Thank you for being so sweet! I am also happy that you want help and that you have the opportunity to have such a good professional by your side. I hope you get better enough to leave this forum.

Feel free to PM me anytime too!

 

[alwayspissedoff]

Oh yeah I got it. In this case I think it would be better for you if you could change your therapist.

I'm sorry if I'm meddling in things that aren't my business. I just like helping people.

I could try that if I didn't dislike the concept of therapy by itself, because of what I've said. yeah, maybe having someone who gets me more could be of a lot of more help, but in that case reaching out to a friend who already gets me is of more help, and it's free, yknow? lol
i'm very isolated from my friend group but anyways, from time to time I speak to those who get me.

 

[orpheus_]

Generally: depends. Remember, people on this site are here because they want/plan to die. Most of them have not had good experiences with professional help. The people who got better will probably not hang out on suicide forums that much.

There are people who say that they got "cured" out of depression and suicidal thoughts. I would say it's unlikely to be 100% "cured", especially if your problems have been going on for many years BUT your life can improve to the point where it's worth the struggle. I think the aim of "recovery" is not always getting perfectly fine, but just making your life less miserable piece by piece, eventually even good. Anecdotal evidence here but I have a friend who after getting proper medication stopped being suicidal (she was for many years), still gets depressive episodes but they're easier to deal with, I know therapy also helped. I know she hasn't been suicidal for a few years now.

Did it help me personally: yes, but to what degree - that's something I cannot tell for sure. I also avoided "professional help" for many years (for many reasons) but decided to see a psychiatrist and try medications because my friend/girlfriend? (complicated situation) at the time insisted on it. I wanted to do it only to make my death easier to deal with, so they could see that "I tried getting help" at least, but I planned to ctb during the next few weeks. Actually the meds I got made me feel so good for a few weeks that I decided not to kill myself lol. Now that idea keeps coming back to me sometimes but I am not 100% sure if that's what I want (I was 99% sure before) and generally speaking I'm trying to live, not just rot in bed.

So medications *were* a big game changer for me. Therapy not so much at first, but it slowly helped me deal with my life better and survive difficult circumstances that came later. Tbh I have been seeing my therapist for over a year and I feel like only since a few weeks I actually started "proper" therapy because earlier it was all about surviving an outside-circumstances situation where way too much responsibility was put on me. However I feel like it is helping, I found a good therapist, at least a good match for me (she respects the fact that I might choose to die so I can talk to her about being suicidal very openly) (idk if that's very professional of her but I don't care, it helped me a lot actually).

I would say it's worth trying if you can. Especially if you have someone in your life who cares about youn- even if you don't get better and end up dead, they may have an easier time dealing with it. Try talking to a therapist/psychologist, but just know that not every person will be a good match for you and it's a bit of hit or miss. Try seeing a psychiatrist and get medications, BUT before you start taking it - please, please research the substance you've been prescribed to know if it's the right choice for you (the first medication I got would either not work or harm me more, but luckily I researched it and didn't even start; ane the second med I got, and actually started taking, worked well for me).

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to include way too much I guess. I hope you will be able to get something out of it.
Good luck

 

[broken serenity]

Maybe look into DBT? It's all about finding a life worth living, and having a beautiful loving partner sounds like half of what most people are looking for.

Altho worth looking into if you're relationship dynamic has changed to be less healthy for you? That's been a stresser for me in the past.

It worked for me for a time, but felt like a constant battle to stay ok or put-together enough to wanna stick around.

 

[tortinhadelimao]

Generally: depends. Remember, people on this site are here because they want/plan to die. Most of them have not had good experiences with professional help. The people who got better will probably not hang out on suicide forums that much.

There are people who say that they got "cured" out of depression and suicidal thoughts. I would say it's unlikely to be 100% "cured", especially if your problems have been going on for many years BUT your life can improve to the point where it's worth the struggle. I think the aim of "recovery" is not always getting perfectly fine, but just making your life less miserable piece by piece, eventually even good. Anecdotal evidence here but I have a friend who after getting proper medication stopped being suicidal (she was for many years), still gets depressive episodes but they're easier to deal with, I know therapy also helped. I know she hasn't been suicidal for a few years now.

Did it help me personally: yes, but to what degree - that's something I cannot tell for sure. I also avoided "professional help" for many years (for many reasons) but decided to see a psychiatrist and try medications because my friend/girlfriend? (complicated situation) at the time insisted on it. I wanted to do it only to make my death easier to deal with, so they could see that "I tried getting help" at least, but I planned to ctb during the next few weeks. Actually the meds I got made me feel so good for a few weeks that I decided not to kill myself lol. Now that idea keeps coming back to me sometimes but I am not 100% sure if that's what I want (I was 99% sure before) and generally speaking I'm trying to live, not just rot in bed.

So medications *were* a big game changer for me. Therapy not so much at first, but it slowly helped me deal with my life better and survive difficult circumstances that came later. Tbh I have been seeing my therapist for over a year and I feel like only since a few weeks I actually started "proper" therapy because earlier it was all about surviving an outside-circumstances situation where way too much responsibility was put on me. However I feel like it is helping, I found a good therapist, at least a good match for me (she respects the fact that I might choose to die so I can talk to her about being suicidal very openly) (idk if that's very professional of her but I don't care, it helped me a lot actually).

I would say it's worth trying if you can. Especially if you have someone in your life who cares about youn- even if you don't get better and end up dead, they may have an easier time dealing with it. Try talking to a therapist/psychologist, but just know that not every person will be a good match for you and it's a bit of hit or miss. Try seeing a psychiatrist and get medications, BUT before you start taking it - please, please research the substance you've been prescribed to know if it's the right choice for you (the first medication I got would either not work or harm me more, but luckily I researched it and didn't even start; ane the second med I got, and actually started taking, worked well for me).

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to include way too much I guess. I hope you will be able to get something out of it.
Good luck

Thank you for your answer, it actually gave me a lot of motivation to seek for professional help seeing that it could work that well. I'm really happy it did for you.

Most of the time, I logically think that continuing to live would be the best option, because things eventually get better. The problem is that it fluctuates a lot, and at other times, while I have depressive episodes (which have been very frequent) I feel so bad that I can only think about suicide, but I really don't want to hurt loved ones. That's why I want to seek help, especially since my boyfriend is insisting for me to do it and reading your answer made me feel really hopeful about how much better I can get. I really want to get out of this situation I'm in.

Something that confuses me a bit about whether it's really worth trying to seek help is the fact that many people, even in this post, responded that it didn't work for them or that it only works temporarily. I don't know exactly what makes it not work for people: could it be the professionals?

I have one question about your text tho: How can I be sure that the medication I am prescribed is the right choice for me?

Maybe look into DBT? It's all about finding a life worth living, and having a beautiful loving partner sounds like half of what most people are looking for.

Altho worth looking into if you're relationship dynamic has changed to be less healthy for you? That's been a stresser for me in the past.

It worked for me for a time, but felt like a constant battle to stay ok or put-together enough to wanna stick around.

Actually, I'm in a really healthy relationship where I feel heard and loved. He's absolutely the best boyfriend I could ever be with, and he's one of the reasons I'm still alive. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be writing to you right now.

But I don't know… he gives me a kind of purpose to keep living, yet I'm at a point in my life where my depressive episodes are so intense that the negative thoughts get louder than the good ones, you know?

Also, DBT feels like a good option for me. Thank you for answering.

 

[fadedghost]

the people who saw professionals and got better are generally not on Sanctioned Suicide

You're looking at a self-selected group that wants to die.

If you went to a forum about the joys of knitting, and asked "Do people like knitting?" most people say yes, but it doesn't mean knitting is something everyone will like.

It's fine to get opinions here, and for me mental health professionals were exploitative and not helpful at all, a waste of time and money that used my ill fortune to enrich themselves...

but this is not really the same as random data... To really know you would have to have 2 groups of suicidal people, and some did get help and some didn't, and then you'd have to correct for why they didn't get help (poverty, distrustfulness, greater levels of trauma) and that would be statistically really hard to correct for, and then you would do a longitudinal study and try to isolate the variable correcting for everything that caused the two groups to self-select like that

Even then it would be hard to get good data. The only real way to know would be to take a group of people already depressed, like people who failed a first suicide attempt, and give one group mental health professionals and the other group nothing, and then measure suicidal outcomes over 20 years. It would be a highly unethical study, and there's no way anyone would allow it.

So there's no way to know easily if mental health professionals are helpful for certain depressed groups. There's data out there that for most depressed people, antidepressants and therapy helps. There's data out there that most people who fail a suicide attempt don't try again. There's not much data about chronically depressed and suicidal people and long-term outcomes when given therapy and antidepressants, to my knowledge (and I could be wrong and it exists). I tend to believe that chronically suicidal people are different than people who fail 1 attempt or people who experience bad depression, that it's a different sort of animal.

 

[Higurashi415]

I know we're not in the recovery section, and like many others I'm here because professional help hasn't worked, but... yeah, it does, sometimes. It is sometimes possible to cure suicidal thoughts, it really depends on what caused them. Plenty of people have healed from them, dare I say, some of which have even been active on this forum.

 

[Dome42315]

If it's not too personal and you feel comfortable sharing this, could you tell me why it didn't work for you? I really want to assess whether it's worth spending my time and money on this.

Btw, thank you for answering! :)

No worries at all! The medications didn't work that well for me. I tried 4 (I'll name them in DM if you would like, but I don't want to risk being recognized in public, despite a combo of SSRI/SNRI not really being PHI). I think one partially helped for a little bit, but it wore off (might have been placebo or something; not sure). Talk therapy didn't help, but I also feel as if I never got to the bottom of my issues, since I was a little worried about being grippy sock jailed.

Genuinely though, I've seen it work for some people, though.

Management of Treatment-Resistant Depression: Challenges and Strategies - PMC

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a subset of Major Depressive Disorder which does not respond to traditional and first-line therapeutic options. There are several definitions and staging models of TRD and a consensus for each has not yet been ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This article notes that about a 1/3 of patients are unable to find remission for depression (the treatment doesn't work). They got this from another article, but that one's not free to read. It's important to note that some MDD patients don't have chronic MDD, and those patients tend to be treated more easily than chronic MDD patients. Despite everything I'm saying, if 1/3 of patients don't find remission, that means that 2/3 of them do.

 

[kittykatt]

im currently medicated for anxiety and depression. im temporarily okay. when i come off my meds idk how it will be long term. so in the moment it helps