Anyone else roll their eyes when people promote suicide hotlines?

[Sorral]

It is the ultimate example of virtue signaling. Every time someone online mentions suicide, 50 hotline numbers are immediately spammed. It lets people think they are "saving" people without actually doing anything. It is equivalent to "thoughts and prayers".

The reality is that the hotlines are a pointless. Anybody who is serious about ending their life isn't going to be dissuaded by some stranger on the phone reading a script. The fact that people think otherwise is borderline offensive and shows an incredible misunderstanding of the desire to die.

At MOST these hotlines serve to stop "passionate" deaths where someone calls in high/drunk, but even then, I am skeptical of how often that occurs. Society's resources would be better spent on allowing access to safe and effective methods to receive unrestricted euthanasia, rather than trying to force people into living lives they hate and pushing them towards violent and painful methods of death.

 

[haiku]

Yeah it's that lazy "slacktivism" stuff and it gets on my nerves when it's on literally every post or article or anything about suicide. I just tune it out now especially on search engines. It reminds me of when people all change their profile pictures to rainbows or black or whatever relevant cause of the month, but they don't actually do anything else.

People I've spoken to say the crisis hotlines are basically useless because they can't offer you any advice at all or aren't allowed to say many things. I called one once during a really bad night, and the person on the other line was really sweet though but I felt awkward about the whole thing. She also called back to check up on me a week later. I think it's nice the service exists, but it does feel like a bandage when we should be putting resources into better mental healthcare in general and an option for peaceful euthanasia would be nice.

 

[Sorral]

Yeah it's that lazy "slacktivism" stuff and it gets on my nerves when it's on literally every post or article or anything about suicide. I just tune it out now especially on search engines. It reminds me of when people all change their profile pictures to rainbows or black or whatever relevant cause of the month, but they don't actually do anything else.

People I've spoken to say the crisis hotlines are basically useless because they can't offer you any advice at all or aren't allowed to say many things. I called one once during a really bad night, and the person on the other line was really sweet though but I felt awkward about the whole thing. She also called back to check up on me a week later. I think it's nice the service exists, but it does feel like a bandage when we should be putting resources into better mental healthcare in general and an option for peaceful euthanasia would be nice.

What do these people expect? Do they think someone is going to be like: "I was suicidal when I clicked on this article, but after calling the hotline you so graciously provided, I no longer want to put a bullet in my head! Whish I had thought of that myself--thanks for solving my problems!"

It's fucking laughable.

 

[haiku]

I know, right?? Like "thanks, I'm cured" material. I honestly feel like it's more of a disclaimer to cover their ass or something in case their article causes someone else to die (there's been studies that show publicized suicides can lead to more suicides). So they can just be like, "Look we posted phone numbers and said killing yourself is bad!" and not be blamed.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I don't think suicide hotlines and other resources have to be mutually exclusive, but I hate that people throw the hotline like it's a "cure". Sure, it may stop some impulsive "passion" suicides, but it does nothing for people who are chronically suicidal. It's just the same phrases and same shit regurgitated over and over, it doesn't even come close to solving the actual issues. And then if you actually have a plan or if they think you're in danger? Here's a $40,000 hospital bill hope you feel better!

 

[Dot]

Thnk sui ht-lnes shld b mre cmmnly refrrd 2 as 'crisis' lnes - thy r gd 2 gve ppl sm1 2 tlk 2 in momnts of crisis & hlp brng ppl dwn = prvnt c.t.b tht cmes frm esclatn / situatnl c.t.b whre ppl hve lost perspctve

Thy r gd fr genrl emltnl spprt bt thy r havng 2 mch respnsblty pt on thm fr mch deepr issus

 

[Gena]

Yes!

 

[Forever Dead]

Those suicide hotlines piss me the fuck off big time. We don't need to talk to some idiot who does not understand what a suicidal person is actually feeling. We need to communicate with people who are experiencing the same things, because only a person who has been, or is suicidal can truly understand another suicidal person. Sanctioned Suicide is far more therapeutic to me than all those so-called suicide helplines could ever be.

 

[FuneralCry]

Yes, I see suicide hotlines as being pointless as they do not fix any problems and they do not take away what is causing people to be suicidal in the first place. In society there is this view that suicide is always wrong, irrational and must be always prevented. In reality suicide is a human right, it is a personal decision and can be perfectly rational in a world as horrible as this. I wish we lived in a society where our right to die is respected and then we could just exit peacefully when the time is right for us.

 

[ImsooDone1N]

I do more than roll my eyes.. fuck them- they have no idea what horror I'm going thru.

 

[chloramine]

I don't necessarily think they're completely useless but I think society is trying to make them the solution to things they aren't equipped to handle. There might be a place for them in short term crisis intervention (as some others have mentioned), but that's about it. Personally the one time I tried one it was more aggravating than anything

 

[jamie_]

uni employees at the end of every email copy and pasting "we understand receiving this correspondence can be difficult so we would direct you to our help and support pages" whilst my life gets ruined. gotta post the disclaimer just in case i do kms. they also know full well i could.

like if you actually care step out of the robotic professional speak for one second and talk to me like a normal person. think a big problem with people is they think by just stating you care about someone or something means that you actually do. ive been told by someone who was actively removing me from their life completely that they "still care". also been "thoughts and prayers" dumped and run by people who's only message to date has been just that and even that was only when i fucking initiated it.

truth is, people today do not care. they only care about people thinking that they care and their image if they are seen to not care about something. it's all about covering one's own ass with statements.

Also just seems so condescending. It takes a google search we dont need it spelt out to us like a child. But no, we should be grateful that someone so benevolent has passed down this wisdom to us. Thank you, for saving the day you are a modern hero.

 

[Euthanza]

I know, right?? Like "thanks, I'm cured" material. I honestly feel like it's more of a disclaimer to cover their ass or something in case their article causes someone else to die (there's been studies that show publicized suicides can lead to more suicides). So they can just be like, "Look we posted phone numbers and said killing yourself is bad!" and not be blamed.

Suicide contagion implies that human's rights is also contagious, how silly is that lol

 

[Fish Face]

How can you say that having somebody constantly saying 'um' when you are taking about your problems doesn't help! I mean I have failed to get any help from the health service for years, just these numbers and at worst the police coming around to insult me. SS members are the only people who really get it.

 

[Worndown]

Lets be fair, most people have no others tools in their toolbox. They could say "that's nice, I hope it goes well for you" and then run away. This concept overloads almost everyone. Hotlines are the ready answer. At least they did not call the cops!

 

[whitefeather]

Yeah it's that lazy "slacktivism" stuff and it gets on my nerves when it's on literally every post or article or anything about suicide. I just tune it out now especially on search engines. It reminds me of when people all change their profile pictures to rainbows or black or whatever relevant cause of the month, but they don't actually do anything else.

People I've spoken to say the crisis hotlines are basically useless because they can't offer you any advice at all or aren't allowed to say many things. I called one once during a really bad night, and the person on the other line was really sweet though but I felt awkward about the whole thing. She also called back to check up on me a week later. I think it's nice the service exists, but it does feel like a bandage when we should be putting resources into better mental healthcare in general and an option for peaceful euthanasia would be nice.

"SLACKTIVISM" !

 

[OpheliasFlowers]

Yes. It actually does make me feel anger when I see "caring" people (who so often love to toot their own horn about what 'empaths' they are, and post about how they're LITERALLY (their dramatic word) CRYING aBoUT tHe STATE OF THE WORLD AND SOCIETY) post suicide or crisis hotline numbers on their sm and then wait for all the pats on the back about how wonderful they are to care so much and offer assistance (LOL) to people who are in need/hurting/crisis, etc. What a joke. I've called those numbers a few times and it was a waste of time, not to mention frustrating, disappointing and kind of insulting in how the person/s at the other end of the line disregarded 95% of what I said because they had to keep to their script. I'm glad for anybody that has gotten some comfort or grounding in desperate moments from those type of hotlines but in my own personal experience, they're ultimately pointless. I'll never call one again.

 

[HateMyPointlessLife]

It is the ultimate example of virtue signaling. Every time someone online mentions suicide, 50 hotline numbers are immediately spammed. It lets people think they are "saving" people without actually doing anything. It is equivalent to "thoughts and prayers".

The reality is that the hotlines are a pointless. Anybody who is serious about ending their life isn't going to be dissuaded by some stranger on the phone reading a script. The fact that people think otherwise is borderline offensive and shows an incredible misunderstanding of the desire to die.

At MOST these hotlines serve to stop "passionate" deaths where someone calls in high/drunk, but even then, I am skeptical of how often that occurs. Society's resources would be better spent on allowing access to safe and effective methods to receive unrestricted euthanasia, rather than trying to force people into living lives they hate and pushing them towards violent and painful methods of death.

These hotlines are useless to me. And I am also sick and tired of people saying things like, life is always worthwhile, and life always has meaning. These people don't know what I or anyone else are going through. I realise why these people say it, as its expected. But it makes me crazy. Or the statement that life gets better, I was told that over and over again as a teen, and that I'd find my purpose in life. And I knew it wouldn't be true. And years later, I am worse off. And even more stuck in a life I despise. I find these people infuriating.

 

[lugerepair]

Yeah, I roll my eyes and I wonder if these people have ever actually been suicidal and if they've ever actually called a suicide hotline before. 99% of the time, calling hotlines just winds up making me feel worse. What the fuck is a hotline going to do? Is it going to make life not suck? I doubt it.

 

[wait.what]

Yeah, I can't really recommend hotlines. If you live in the U.S. and you call one, you run the risk of having your local police sent to your house to perform "active rescue." "Active rescue" is their term for showing up at your house, shooting your dog for barking, and then shooting you for who in the hell knows what reason. The Washington Post has a database of fatal shootings by police officers, if you want to see it. It looks like around 1 in 7 police shooting victims were mentally ill. I expect that's actually a very low figure, especially in the years from 2020 to present. I can't say for sure how many cops were dispatched to "save" a suicidal person and then ended up killing them instead, but anecdotally it's a non-trivial amount. Suicide by cop is an actual thing; so much so that I've actually considered it. (Too unpredictable a method for me. Also, I'm not very scary-looking.)

A collection of reasons cops have "saved" people from being alive, just off the top of my head:

Noncompliance with verbal commands, because the victim was deaf, or non-verbal, or didn't speak English, or was suicidal and trying to get the cops to shoot them, or because the commands made no damn sense ("Get down on the ground! Don't move! Get down on the ground!")

Reaching for a weapon that was actually a cell phone, or the victim's ID documents, or a child's plaything, or nothing whatsoever.

Miscellaneous bigotry and abuse: because the victim was a person of color, or transgender, or "from a shithole country," or had the "wrong" political stickers on their car, or is related to someone who complains about the local police department a lot, etc., etc.

I know of only one hotline that swears never to call the police on someone who contacts them. I'll tell you what it is, for what it's worth. It's called Trans Lifeline. I guess I won't link to it, for obvious reasons, lol. I did call them once, and I can verify they don't read a script at you. The poor schmuck with the ill luck to take my call seemed completely out of their depth, though. I mean, they were polite. I think the problem may have been that they were expecting to talk down a panicking person, and that was not me. I am not, "Aaa! Aaaaaa!! I don't know what to do! Uhhh . . . I guess I'm gonna kill myself! Yeah that's a good idea!" It's really more your standard: "Oh, dear God, another sunrise. Another day of dragging my useless body through whatever dystopian hellscape we're getting today. Like every day. Since 1980." I mean, what do you do with that? I don't know. That's why I called them. For what it's worth, you are supposed to be trans to call them, but I guess if you want a slightly incompetent hotline that won't sic the cops on you, then be my guest. If you're cis and they press you on the point (which they won't), you can just say you thought the hotline was for people who really liked trains. ("You're actually what now? This isn't the choo-choo hotline . . .")

 

[releasespieces]

Those hotlines are pure evil.

 

[asscar.racing]

my mom called the suicide hotline about me a few days ago and they told her they were going to send a psychologist out. instead they sent 4 armed and armored sheriffs asking me about my guns. there's no red flag laws in my state there's nothing they could do- but that easily could've been a dangerous situation for me.
it's so fucked up hotlines do this

 

[BipolarExpress]

<Bot>HELP IS AVAILABLE. CALL 988 AND BE DRAGGED OFF TO A PSYCH WARD WHERE YOU WILL BE PUMPED WITH MEDICATIONS AND RECEIVE NO SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS PRECIPITATING YOUR SUICIDE ATTEMPT.</Bot>