Does this site benefit you in any way?

[RainAndSadness]

Hi everyone. Just out of curiousity, a while ago there was a report about this forum where the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association said that "[...]there is no value to this site, it doesn't benefit anyone - in fact it does quite the opposite[...]", defending the position that this forum shouldn't exist and it made me curious, is that true? Like, that person is obviously talking down to us, over us, pretending they know what we want, when they claim this forum doesn't benefit anyone despite there being clearly a demand for website like this one, right. And it seems to me people are making an account and participating here voluntarily, so I'd assume there must be some value to this website for the people who are using it. It's also important to fact-check these claims given this person seems to speak for the CMHA and it would be interesting to know if these people even remotely understand what goes on in the minds of suicidal people, if they understand what our needs and desires are and how we want society to treat us.

It seems to me these people think want to be treated like children and have other people decide what we're allowed to see and research online and what decisions we're allowed to make while I do think that people who use this forum want some degree of autonomy and a right to make their decisions regarding their own welfare and decide for themselves how they want to live this life and when they want to leave. That's how I want society to treat me, I found this forum in 2018 when I was in need for information to make my own decisions and a supportive community and I didn't agree with these experts that other people should have a right to tell me, as an autonomous adult, what I'm supposed to see online and which decisions I make for my own life, concerning my own welfare, are valid and appropiate and which aren't. I think these are deeply personal decisions and essentially nobody's business but mine. And I have a feeling that's echoed by a majority of people in this community.

So let's solve this dilemma. What do you think? I'd be curious to hear your opinion, feel free to explain your position in the comments below.

 

[breezeboy]

Why would someone come to this site if it didn't benefit them lmao?
I'd be surprised if there was a single vote for No.

 

[WhiteRabbit]

I'm chronically ill and in a lot of daily pain. This site helped me acquire a peaceful method to exit this life if and when I choose to do so, and for that I'm thankful.

 

[dggtscccvfd]

I'm chronically ill and in a lot of daily pain. This site helped me acquire a peaceful method to exit this life if and when I choose to do so, and for that I'm thankful.

Likewise.

 

[4g1vvvven]

I don't know if it's as simple as a yes/no

Honestly coming back to this site after a year or so, I was hoping I'd find a quick reliable method to execute on and I haven't succeeded yet.

To that end, as of now, I guess I could conclude it's not helpful.
In my country (UK) it seems harder than it used to be and rates are declining which I find demoralising.

However I'm grateful for this forum, maybe it's because misery loves company, maybe it's because some users have apparently found this forum and done what I hoped to do.

Maybe it's too soon too soon to say whether it's been a benefit or not

 

[carac]

This is one of the only places I feel accepted.

In the real world everything is so fake, it's all about your achievements, how well you are doing in life, what a success you have made of yourself. I really don't fit in there. It's nice just knowing there are others in a similar positions or worse off than me, not to make me feel better about myself. Just because I feel a connection and an understanding.

It's also nice just being free to talk openly, On the outside I'm talking to people about the weather and mundane stuff when sometimes you just want to say "do ever feel sometimes that life isnt worth it?"

 

[fuzzy-clown]

Imagine if you were 11 years old and you thought there's no way you'd make it to 20. And then when you made it to 20, you thought there's no way you'd make it to 30. Thinking like that for so long makes the concept of suicide inseparable from my life, even if I have no immediate plans to CTB.
This site is a community of people like me. It makes me not feel alone.

 

[Life_and_Death]

Why would someone come to this site if it didn't benefit them lmao?
I'd be surprised if there was a single vote for No.

lack of other places but only marginally better. wouldnt exactly call it "beneficial"

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

If this site didn't exist I'd probably be making my incoherent rants more public or at least at my irl friends who'd ultimately feel compelled to put me in a prison or something after a while so yes I find this site quite necessary. Even when I've taken breaks from the site, the fact that it's here waiting for me was still enough to keep me going sometimes.

 

[breezeboy]

lack of other places but only marginally better. wouldnt exactly call it "beneficial"

That doesn't really make sense. If this site wasn't benefiting you at all then you wouldn't come.
Like you said this place offers something that you can't really find elsewhere so how is that not a benefit?

Maybe it's just me but I don't spend time on websites that don't benefit me in some way.

 

[Bed]

This site has helped me immensely when all mental health resources in my area have failed me or didn't end up helping. Yes I came here when I was at my worst looking for a way out but i'm pretty sure the community here has saved me in some way if you look at it from the aspect of keeping me alive. for the first time i didn't feel alone with my thoughts and could speak about how i felt without the fear of judgement or being locked up for how i feel. i've felt a deep sense of relief from being apart of this community.
having access to a suicide method has also brought me relief and made me want to live longer. i don't feel as impulsive and can go when i want. a lot of people outside of here can't wrap their heads around how having access to a method can be beneficial. similar to having access to euthanasia/MAiD has made people wan't to live longer in some cases.

 

[Proteus]

In my opinion a lot of this is about lexis. Normally SS opposers see suicide as forbidden and aren't willing to accept any of it. I prefer looking life as a collection of good and bad things and suicide not worse than horribly bad experiences, thus I see this site as good. Since we define good differently, we will never agree on what's good since for them it would be to delete this site.

As for experiences I can't talk about it as I'm not going thought anything too bad, but there is probably a bit on both sides. I see a lot of people feeling super accepted and related, but I'm sure some people would feel stressed in a place this dark.

However I have extremely unpopular opinions I couldn't share without massive backlash, and I'm grateful to you for allowing me to share them :)

 

[UKscotty]

Yes definitely.

It's good to be with like minded people.

The media attacks us but the reality is hardly anyone does CTB, less than 1 per day.

We are more a support community, then giving options if all else fails as a last resort.

I think all humans intuitively know how to CTB if they are ready, plus we don't share any information that is secret or not available elsewhere like Wikipedia.

The people who do seem to claim to think death is best are in single figures from my observations.

 

[Mywill]

This site is the only place for me to vent, to have sensible conversations on the topic. I have been on this site for 4 years, still hanging there because I know there're similar people with conditions like me exist.

My life would be in worse shapes or long dead if I hadn't found this site.

 

[ijustwishtodie]

Yeah, this site benefits me as I can express myself freely here without any consequences

 

[eLdus]

I'm chronically ill and in a lot of daily pain. This site helped me acquire a peaceful method to exit this life if and when I choose to do so, and for that I'm thankful.

^^ This ^^
I am chronically ill and was going to catch the bus with or without SaSu. However, what I've learnt here will allow me to ctb in a much more peaceful way than I ever could have done on my own. I hate to think how I would have ended up without that knowledge.
That has given me an immense amount of peace and comfort.

Plus, the community here just understands.

 

[Linda]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't get something from the site. I may be atypical, in that possibly I provide more support than I receive, mainly because I don't need much day-to-day support, but even so I have got a great deal from this site. I can speak honestly here about aspects of my own situation that I would hesitate to put in writing anywhere else. (And, incidentally, you are doing a great job. Don't let hostility from ignorant people get you down.)

 

[Silent Raindrops]

It's the only place I've found where I can express my feelings without the fear of being put down, or facing repercussions of being put in a hospital. This place has helped me a good bit so far.

 

[FutureHanger]

Hell yeah

• Suicide Methods
• Can vent without worrying about being "cringe" or treated like I'm just having one single bad day and just need to call a hotline
• Lots of emotional support and overall a great community, really accepting and I wish more people were like us (not the suicidal part but people on here aren't as judgemental or complacent with the BS in society as most people are)

 

[mortuarymary]

It's helped at great deal. Without you guys, I'd have been a goner.

 

[restless.dreams]

I'm a new member but I feel less alone here, very grateful for that :)

 

[dragonofenvy]

This is the only place where I can discuss such topics without seeming too cringey or abnormal, and those who don't wish to participate in people's discussions here can find other discussions to do so rather than awkwardly feeling forced into it.

 

[ForgottenAgain]

This site has benefitted me greatly. I learned about methods and how hard it is to ctb. I was able to talk freely about it and be understood where not even professionals understand.

This site actually made me less suicidal. Gave me a dose of reality that I was needing and gave me a place to share thoughts I can't share with anyone else in my life.

I think it's very important that this site exists and I'm glad to have joined as it has helped me.

 

[Tears in Rain]

Well, for those who checked the site out and left, it didn't benefit them. But for anyone who logged on here and stayed for whatever length of time, then it obviously provided some benefit. Be it methods, company, connection, venting, or whatever. Otherwise they wouldn't have stayed.

I'd be surprised if there was a single vote for No.

There's possibly one very strong contender to vote no!

 

[Exiled]

Ironically, I would be dead without this website. So, yes it benefits me a great deal in finding comfort and being able to relate to other people in a way I couldn't do elsewhere.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

The CMHA is a fucking joke. I personally have found this site to be very helpful. It's one of the only places where I feel safe to vent out my frustations and it's genuinely nice to have a place where suicide can be discussed freely without having to worry about being bombarded with hotline numbers and shitty meaningless platitudes. Providing a safe space for suicidal people is important. And that's not even going into the amount of information on here about different suicide methods and risks they carry. Without any safe and legal suicide options available to the public having a place like this, where different suicide methods, their success rate, their risks, and how to perform them correctly are discussed openly are important.


At the end of the day, the CMHA and other psychiatric and mental health associations don't actually care about suicidal people. They don't want to listen to us and do not have our best interests in mind.

I think this quote sums up my thoughts on it pretty well:

 

[Lookingtoflyfree]

This site is giving me support - it's a toolbox as I wrap things up and plan the end, and I don't expect anyone else to see the value in it than us. If I had this as a teen I might have ironically been helped, and might have had friends. I don't care what the normies think of this place. Having it means at least there is one place on the planet that gets me

 

[Codename_Joryu]

We all made accounts here because we wanted to, no one forced us to do it. I'm here because it's one of the very few places where I can just type what I really think without stupid fucking threats about sending me to psych ward. I'm very thankful that this forum exists, because I can relate to many people here and vent about pretty much everything. So yeah, I can surely say that this site benefits me a lot. I don't care what "normal" people think about it, they are too ignorant anyway to even try understanding it's true purpose.

 

[jujuklam]

I'm still relatively new here, but it's helped me immensely. Knowing I'm not suffering alone, but that I also am not alone in considering ctb as a viable and legitimate option to end that suffering actually helps me to feel better. Knowing there are options, as difficult as they can be to attain, also helps. The philosophy of 'keep someone alive no matter the cost' is just a rigid component of western healthcare, and I get it, but it's a narrow view, and not based in full reality.

 

[Katdogg]

It has helped me to clarify my chosen method to make it more successful when that time comes.

It has helped to me to read the many posts here and try to understand what other people are going through.

It has helped me feel connected. This feels like the tribe of lost hope and shattered dreams. I feel like its okay to admit my failings here. The system has broken us all down and I can commiserate.

The goodbye threads are too much for me so I avoid them. I get a weird feeling participating in that ... but that is just my programming and bias showing.

The CMHA is a fucking joke. I personally have found this site to be very helpful. It's one of the only places where I feel safe to vent out my frustations and it's genuinely nice to have a place where suicide can be discussed freely without having to worry about being bombarded with hotline numbers and shitty meaningless platitudes. Providing a safe space for suicidal people is important. And that's not even going into the amount of information on here about different suicide methods and risks they carry. Without any safe and legal suicide options available to the public having a place like this, where different suicide methods, their success rate, their risks, and how to perform them correctly are discussed openly are important.


At the end of the day, the CMHA and other psychiatric and mental health associations don't actually care about suicidal people. They don't want to listen to us and do not have our best interests in mind.

I think this quote sums up my thoughts on it pretty well:

The existence and popularity of this site probably makes them feel like as an institution they are failing people but as you pointed out they are not understanding the "Why" of their failure . I liked your quote.