Venting Why do all suicide prevention efforts suck balls???

[caesium]

Just saw like three different posts from different 17-18yo kids on TikTok where they essentially said "when I was younger I wanted to kill myself but then I got friends/a partner and now I'm fine so it gets better guys keep going :)" and I don't want to sound like a prick, but seeing stuff like that just makes me want to end it even more. Like, yeah I'm sure actually being important to people DOES help with the whole wanting to die thing. This all got me thinking, I don't think I've ever seen an anti suicide post/video/etc that helped. They've always made me feel worse. It's all just people repeating the same few things over and over. I know the people that make this stuff probably have good intentions but it all comes off as superficial. People will say all the things that they think are correct to say in this situation but won't actually do anything to help suicidal people.

 

[lavenderjourney]

Yes to all of this! Especially the crisis/warm lines. The people talking to you and trying to help are all mandated reporters, so they can and WILL contact police/EMS if you're honest about a plan. It always has to stay ideation, no matter what level of help you're receiving. Crisis lines, medication management, therapeutic treatments... Constantly lying to people who are supposed to help you because one wrongly worded truth can get a psychiatric hold on your record and a pile of medical bills you didn't need on top of everything else you previously had going on.

That's why this site is so nice. No one's reporting anyone. You're able to put the words out there, to lay out an entire plan, and you're met with understanding and reality. And sometimes, that can help someone more than anything else.

 

[EmptyBottle]

Probably because they miss describing the in-between actions, (sometimes) make it seem like a single event was the sole fix-it thing (memory bias?), and think that 'it gets better' helps when... the advice that can help is more complicated. Additionally those clichés are repetitive and annoying.

Side note, I'm not sure why ppl don't help each other that much (probably many factors ranging from TikTok and other algorithms, to cultural changes and beyond)

 

[RW__Asher23]

Yes to all of this! Especially the crisis/warm lines. The people talking to you and trying to help are all mandated reporters, so they can and WILL contact police/EMS if you're honest about a plan. It always has to stay ideation, no matter what level of help you're receiving. Crisis lines, medication management, therapeutic treatments... Constantly lying to people who are supposed to help you because one wrongly worded truth can get a psychiatric hold on your record and a pile of medical bills you didn't need on top of everything else you previously had going on.

That's why this site is so nice. No one's reporting anyone. You're able to put the words out there, to lay out an entire plan, and you're met with understanding and reality. And sometimes, that can help someone more than anything else.

That is why ppl do come here and you are correct the crisis workers are mandated and it is a reality in that sense of seeking help but can't really say what you want or plan without that possibility of intervention in some way but I would not put all the blame on the workers. Some are willing to go that extra mile and bend rules but that is rare. Jail is a good deterrent and loss of license or certification to help people being revoked and all the money and time spent gaining those things I can see why they do what they do. I don't like it but see the reason why it happens. But Thankfully we are here and this place is for you to express your thoughts and needs and ask what you want but being within our rules too. This post seems ok to me and I will approve it. Thanks.

 

[Scythe]

Depends on why you want to die, and how bad you're in it. Stuff like cptsd or bpd kinda always ends up falling back on you to help yourself.
Most help stuff are useless to long term suicidal people and people who have a problem with the fundaments of society.
people who have a shitty life also gets grouped into mental illness when it could just be they're too broke to fucking live.
But I would like to believe it still helps the normies committing suicide on a whim. I do also believe the system is built for normies doing it on a whim not for people like us. Otherwise the system truly helps nobody and is 100% a front to pretend people give a shit.

 

[rainatthebusstop]

It was on Tik Tok, the platform that brought you "grape", "slip and slide" and other such baby speak. So that was already a set up for failure.

I think the reason why suicide prevention is so lackluster is because of two reasons:

1. It's by largely non-suicidal people for non-suicidal people in order to affirm them in their platitudes and not disturb them any further than "wahhh someone has mental health issues and is doing something violent and horrific how scary "

2. The reasons for suicide are vast and individual. When someone tells you their reason and what help led them to to not go through with it and ends it with an "It gets better" the reasons why they were thinking about committing and what saved them can be completely alien to you or they've had opportunities you simply do not have.

So yeah those programs aren't meant for suicidal people, they're meant for onlookers to be coddled because addressing a wide spread issue with a wide and difficult range of individual problems is hard to do. Better throw out the vague notion of 'Help is always available' and fear monger about people who fail

 

[itsallogrenow]

Like the others said, it only works for the suicidal people who are being impulsive or have temporary issues.

The messages and examples from survivors dont work for those of use who have been thinking about this for decades.

 

[mistysmile966]

It's a facade, they don't want to feel good about themselves or it's just a job to them or the mental health system limits any actual help that they may want to give.

 

[starboy2k]

Im so tired of the "I gotten friends/partner therefore Im not suicidal anymore" trope.

With the uptick in murder-suicides lately, I highly doubt finding a glorified fuck buddy will make suicidal ideations permanently vanish.

Such cap