Help Therapist that wont notify authorities even if im a "danger" to myself?

[OrganizedChaos]

I live in the US and I'm pretty sure there's some sort of law stating that any therapist/psychologist I talk to can only keep things I tell them confidential to a certain extent, for example if I say anything about planning to CTB, they have a right to send me on a uhh...grippy sock vacation....or at least they will notify other authorities who will send me there. The last time that happened to me 2 years ago, it went on my permanent record and my FOID card application got denied so now I can't use a gun. I just want to talk to someone and maybe recover but still be fully honest with how I feel without having to worry that they might rat me out. If anyone has a recommendation for where I could find someone like that, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[timf]

Here is a list of AA type groups. Since the word "anonymous" features in the name, they may offer confidentiality.

List of twelve-step groups - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I don't know if there is an "emotions anonymous" group near you or if they would be able to help, but you might want to look into it.

 

[Ethereal Knight]

wow, the way mental health professionals handle this type of thing is so unprofessional. I'm shocked. they rat the people who are paying them. not to mention they rarely give results. I'm sorry.

I hope someone who lives in US can help you.

 

[neitherherenorthere]

I don't know that there's such a thing as a mental health professional who would *never* report you if you're genuinely a danger to yourself, i.e., you have active suicidal ideation, a plan, and intent to act on said plan--particularly if it seems like you're going to act imminently. The professional's goal in this case is to reduce harm, which means sending you inpatient.

A major issue is a fear of possible legal liability and moral culpability in the event a patient kills themselves. While this is understandable to a certain extent, it also creates an environment where the patient can't trust therapist/psych/whomever, which gets in the way of therapy. Unfortunately, there are some mental health professionals who will send you inpatient as soon as they hear you say that you're having suicidal thoughts even if you have no intent to act on them. They just hear the word "suicide" and panic because they don't know how else to handle the situation due to their own lack of experience and understanding.

The only thing you can really do is to carefully test the waters with your therapist. See how they react if you bring up suicide, without disclosing any thoughts you may be having. Maybe say something along the lines of, "I've had suicidal thoughts in the past. I never planned on acting on them, but even so, I was never sure if it made sense go to the hospital or not. What do you think is the point at which someone should admit themselves to the psych ward?" There are much better ways to bring it up--that's just off the top of my head--and definitely don't start your session out with that question, since that'd be pretty suspicious.