Suicide helpline

[tiggles2000]

I contacted lifeline the other day. All they did was talk to me for an hour, then abruptly end the conversation.

The main reason I did this was to see if there was some hope left for me. I have concluded that there is not, and my life will end soon, by my own hand.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with a "helpline"?

 

[Extremly kind <3]

I contacted lifeline the other day. All they did was talk to me for an hour, then abruptly end the conversation.

The main reason I did this was to see if there was some hope left for me. I have concluded that there is not, and my life will end soon, by my own hand.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with a "helpline"?

Which method....?

 

[SinisterKid]

We have the "Crisis Team" where I live. You phone them, talk to someone and if needs be, someone comes by your house for a visit and then on a regular basis to make sure you are not in danger of harming yourself or others. The fact that none of them are mental health workers, or have any training in mental health matters and that they trundle out the usual platitudes about how things can get better, blah de fuckin blah. Makes em pretty useless unfortunately. Being constantly asked "Hows things"? gets tiresome.

 

[tiggles2000]

I'm intending on using SN and DMSO. The only reason I haven't yet is because I can't completely fast at all when I'm at work

 

[ladolcemorte]

I have called hot lines a few times. And I have had really helpful conversations and unhelpful ones like the one you have described. Remember they are usually run by volunteers and not all the volunteers will have the same aptitude or experience. (Actually, this is true of paid mental health professionals as well...). I would say phone again. You will probably get someone different, and that person may be more helpful. Same with Drs and therapists. They are all different and if one doesn't help, another might. There's all this hype in our society about "reaching out" for help, and not being ashamed about it...but no one tells you what to do when the "help" is not helpful. I haven't exactly cracked that code myself, but I can tell you that about a year ago I had two horrible interactions with Drs and didn't want to see another Dr ever again, but then the third Dr was totally different. He listened and actually helped.

 

[whyidon'tknow]

I've done online messaging or texting. I don't find them very helpful. They usually just ask me who irl I can talk to, what I can do to distract myself, stuff like that. When I do vent they always usually try to tell me how difficult it must be for me. Can't say they've really helped alot

 

[ladolcemorte]

We have the "Crisis Team" where I live. You phone them, talk to someone and if needs be, someone comes by your house for a visit and then on a regular basis to make sure you are not in danger of harming yourself or others. The fact that none of them are mental health workers, or have any training in mental health matters and that they trundle out the usual platitudes about how things can get better, blah de fuckin blah. Makes em pretty useless unfortunately. Being constantly asked "Hows things"? gets tiresome.

Ughhh the platitudes are the worst. A few days ago it was "you a precious", and "you are beautiful" (a total lie...I am fat and even before I got fat I was ugly)...and then "God has a plan for you", and then the guilt trip about how many poor people there are in third world countries who are worse off than myself and THEY don't kill themselves so why should I get to.

 

[Paisley]

i've called a helpline only once. keep in mind that making phone calls is extremely uncomfortable for me so it took a lot of courage to call them at all. i was honest with them about how i felt, they threatened to send the police to my house, i lied and said that i felt better, then i hung up and never called them again. it wasn't just unhelpful, it was downright scary.

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

I've called once, but I also had the luck of getting the wise old lady.
She sounded healthy, but at least eighty years old. She also sounded like she went through some shit herself and actually knows how to deal with this sort of thing.
I may have made her deaf. I insisted on speaking only in English from my side because of the neighbors. In a Jewish country, a certain word beginning with a K (in English) bears some serious weight, so screaming it at roughly midnight would not be a good idea, especially when surrounded by the Orthodox. They don't speak a word of English. Okay, maybe... three words in total.
It was quite therapeutic, honestly, but it's not something I'm willing to repeat again. After coming to my senses and thanking her for her service, I managed to finally fall asleep, and when I woke up the next day, I googled about calling hotlines in Israel.
I got REALLY fucking lucky I got the wise old lady - turns out that while they don't have call tracing things, what they like doing is keeping you on the line, calming you down, slowly extract your location and then sending a goddamn battalion of cops and white coats.

 

[RainAndSadness]

That's what I constantly feel when talking to psychiatrists. I don't know why but these people seem completely incompetent to me. I just had another depressing experience 3 days ago. People who say there is help for us just don't know anything, that's the sad truth.

 

[tiggles2000]

Anyone who says killing your self is the cowards way out has obviously never been through it themselves

 

[barny]

I think it depends who answers the phone. some are nice, some aren't. some ask stupid questions and say stupid things. it can help talking to someone. It depends if there is a way you can change or solve your problems.

 

[Aliaiactaest]

I've called a few times. Some are better than others. An hour is a long time for one person to spend with you.

 

[GinaIsReady]

Maybe those helplines actually help some people but I've never heard of them truly helping anyone. I cannot understand why people think suicide is for cowards or why they think 'there is always a way.' The only thing that makes any sense is they have had zero experience in feeling this way. We feel like this minute after minute, day after day, month after month, year after year. I hate people who think it is wrong to kills oneself. Every week I go to therapy. I have an excellent therapist and have been with her 1.5 yrs, since my last suicide attempt. The longer I am with her, the more my thinking clears up. The more I see and understand about myself. I've learned not to mention that I am suicidal because results in a wasted session and wasted money. But here's the thing, the more I see and understand about myself - and the world and other people at the same time - the less desire I have to make a go at a worthwhile life. The more I feel like I need to just check out.

 

[Broken Chimera]

It's a waste of time and energy. All they're gonna do is track you down to "protect" you from yourself if you say the wrong thing. After last year I decided never to call them again. It's just a glorified venting service. They can't help because they simply don't know how.

 

[On the edge]

I like your profile picture

 

[Oblivion Lover]

I never bothered to call suicide helplines, as I always thought that it would be another useless public service. Judging by the experiences of people here, I guess I was right.

 

[phoenixx]

I once online messaged a help site, they ended up sending police to my house. I was young at the time and just needed to vent, didn't even occur to me that they would send police to my house. So yep, lesson learned.

 

[ron_g]

I'm intending on using SN and DMSO. The only reason I haven't yet is because I can't completely fast at all when I'm at work

Haven't you had promising results with night-night? May I ask why you're changing methods?

 

[tiggles2000]

Haven't you had promising results with night-night? May I ask why you're changing methods?

I did when practising, but since then, have not been able to get close to passing out, and when I do, can't get past the SI

 

[AngelGirl]

Oh I didn't know if that was an actual option. I would be too afraid to call them because I don't want to effing end up in the hospital again.

Every time I search something about suicide I saw the number for suicide hotline and I just never trusted them.

 

[tiggles2000]

Oh I didn't know if that was an actual option. I would be too afraid to call them because I don't want to effing end up in the hospital again.

Every time I search something about suicide I saw the number for suicide hotline and I just never trusted them.

If you call using a mobile phone, you can make it that your number doesn't show up. They may want you to give your address, but providing you say you don't have a date yet, or don't plan on acting on your plan, you can't be detained under the mental health act (in Australia at least)

 

[Person]

I phoned our helpline here. All they did was listen, as this is all they are trained to do.
And sometimes this is all some people need.
It didn't help me though.
I explained my situation to the person on the end of the line, and they listened.
Then when I finished they said "oh, that's really sad"


Yeah. Thanks buddy. Guess I'll just hang up now and go straight back to my problems.

 

[TimeToDie]

I really have no idea how a suicide hotline would help most of the people on this forum. "Normal" people simply don't understand what it's like to seriously want to end your life. They have this delusion that life is generally good and even if things are really bad at the moment they are fully confident that things will get better since that's been their personal life experience and they can't imagine a reality that differs from that. They follow a narrative that says suicide is ALWAYS an irrational act.

 

[bluesky1972-2019]

I think the urge to ctb is not properly understood by the medical profession or society. It seems to be life at all costs, which to me is wrong. It is your right to do what you want with your life. Nobody else should judge or say you cannot ctb. Everyone will die regardless of how or when. So when you're ready you should be allowed to go peacefully without having to resort to buying N,SN, Jumping, hanging etc.....

 

[TimeToDie]

I think the urge to ctb is not properly understood by the medical profession or society.

A woman I know told me about her "suicide attempt." It involved her going outside in winter in her PJs with a vague intention of freezing to death. Upon finding that being cold is uncomfortable she quickly went back inside. I don't think she gets what I'm going through. If she told me a tale about putting a loaded gun in her mouth after coking the hammer, well, then I might actually believe that she understands.

 

[bluesky1972-2019]

A woman I know told me about her "suicide attempt." It involved her going outside in winter in her PJs with a vague intention of freezing to death. Upon finding that being cold is uncomfortable she quickly went back inside. I don't think she gets what I'm going through. If she told me a tale about putting a loaded gun in her mouth after coking the hammer, well, then I might actually believe that she understands.

Yes that's a bit of an insult to how you actually feel when wanting to ctb.

 

[marcusuk63]

it should be sued for false advertising , it doesn't help you commit suicide at all !

 

[JoeFailure]

To be fair, these are volunteers and it's not their fault. Many of us are in situations that unfortunately can't be helped. Like if I was a volunteer and heard myself calling in, all I could say is it's not too late for you to make something of yourself. But that doesn't help at the end of the day. Not their fault though.

It's a lesson I learned much too late about life. It's cold and unforgiving. No matter how much you've changed and no matter how sorry you are and wish you could've done it all different, if you fucked up your past enough, there may not be a way out.

 

[cornflowerblue]

I contacted lifeline the other day. All they did was talk to me for an hour, then abruptly end the conversation.

The main reason I did this was to see if there was some hope left for me. I have concluded that there is not, and my life will end soon, by my own hand.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with a "helpline"?

They are different everywhere. In some states they're understaffed and run by 18 year olds who did a short training and are just there to add some volunteering to their resume. In other states there are real therapists on the phone. When you call the national number, it routes you to a local office based on what area code you call from.

I've had much better luck with the text hotlines than the phone ones. I think it's easier for them to just parrot a script at you while fake-listening if it's over the phone. With text they have to actually read your message before replying, and you can tell more quickly if they're not really engaged.

Remember that the help lines aren't meant to be therapy. They are just to help you out of a crisis but that's a very different skill and technique than if a therapist saw you regularly.

The one good thing is that even at the worst hotlines, the people on the other end of the phone can at least hook you up with resources even if they suck at talking. You can ask them for tips on finding a therapist, opening up to one, what self-help books and forums to try, what real life support groups to attend, and also they can direct you to financial support.

I think the urge to ctb is not properly understood by the medical profession or society. It seems to be life at all costs, which to me is wrong. It is your right to do what you want with your life. Nobody else should judge or say you cannot ctb. Everyone will die regardless of how or when. So when you're ready you should be allowed to go peacefully without having to resort to buying N,SN, Jumping, hanging etc.....

I think plenty of people understand very well, but they have to follow the laws even if they don't agree. That's very hard on a lot of therapists and is actually why some therapists don't take suicidal clients. It's because they know they can't talk as openly as needed to actually provide help, without also being obligated to report you to the cops. So they stay away altogether instead of providing "help" that they themselves know is bullshit.

The problem is that even if a patient is ok with suicide and wouldn't ever rat on the therapist, most grieving families would. And the therapists (reasonably) don't want to get slammed with lawsuits. Even if the family lost, it would be career-ending and traumatic for the therapist to even go through being sued.

The system is broken and keeps people from getting the help they need. If people didn't feel forced to hide or lie about their suicidal thoughts out of fear they'll get involuntarily committed to a shit inpatient hospital (and then end up fired, in debt, traumatized, etc) then they'd be able to honestly discuss those suicidal thoughts with therapists and maybe get some real help. But whoever writes laws either isn't aware or isn't concerned with people feeling better, they just want people to be not-dead.