Discussion Attempt or cry for help?

[Wyldfyre4948]

I've tried to ctb more than a few times, but my family only knows of 2 attempts. My mom said that they were more of a cry for help than an actual attempt. That's when I told her my previous try. My SI has unfortunately stopped me from hanging until expiration.

After that she might've realized I'm actually trying to end my life. In my mind it wasn't a cry for help because nobody knew about the attempts until I admitted what I'd done. The only cry for help I've given was on a night I was particularly driven, but told someone rather than trying again.

What constitutes a cry for help or a genuine attempt? I'm an over thinker so this has been rattling around for a couple weeks. By all means give me your thoughts on the subject.

 

[Huntfish34]

I can be a Huge overthinker so Idk if I could honestly give any advice with this. What constitutes a cry or genuine attempt? I Believe it just all depends on the situation at hand and who might / might not be involved.

I've never attempted, because if I did. . ( gunshot to the head).... I would be dead and gone or in a hospital bed lying in a coma or some Nightmare shit.

Sorry you're Mom reacted that way, fairly toxic and uncalled for Imho. I wish you Nothing but the best in whatever may happen.

Blessings and prayers sent your way, take care of yourself if possible. Godspeed. -

 

[DeadPool360]

Nah I think they were genuine to call it a cry for help it's not possiple what clasifies as a cry for help in a suicide attempt is if you are threatening with it like telling them I will kill myslef while holding a knife in front of them but doing it in solitude and being so insisting that you should do it and it's the better solution that ain't a cry for help that's just you being too sad if you told someone before trying then maybe I can classify it as a cry for help cause at that moment you wanted someone or something to stop you from doing it that is all just my opinion though you can believe anything you want

 

[qwert3948]

I've tried to ctb more than a few times, but my family only knows of 2 attempts. My mom said that they were more of a cry for help than an actual attempt. That's when I told her my previous try. My SI has unfortunately stopped me from hanging until expiration.

After that she might've realized I'm actually trying to end my life. In my mind it wasn't a cry for help because nobody knew about the attempts until I admitted what I'd done. The only cry for help I've given was on a night I was particularly driven, but told someone rather than trying again.

What constitutes a cry for help or a genuine attempt? I'm an over thinker so this has been rattling around for a couple weeks. By all means give me your thoughts on the subject.

you need to be able to see your own behaviour w/o bias which is extremely hard. you can't try to 'push' yourself one way or other, convince yourself you were doing either or ignore your own behaviour

generally, if you didn't think of actually dying a whole lot, thought of/expected an aftermath where people knew you cbt, or expected people to find you, it was likely a cry for help. sounds obvious but most of the time these things don't come obvious to yourself.

 

[Praestat_Mori]

What constitutes a cry for help or a genuine attempt?

I'm sorry that life brought you to this point. But regarding your question I have a personal defintion. It mainly depends on the chosen method and how accurate someone plans and finally executes their chosen method.

Cry for help examples:

- OD with "regular" sleeping pills is certainly a cry for help because ctb is more than unlikely with this method.

- Partial hanging, it seems to have a high failure rate, due to SI and other factors (but done right it's also very effective!!!) Some reports mention that the rope losend while they were unconscrious, this is also certainly a cry for help, because a knot can be tied to an anchorpoint so that it doesn't losen at all.

Genuine attempt examples:

- Full suspension hanging (short/long drop) given a well tied rope to the anchor point that can hold more than 3x body weight and nothing in reach to put your feet back on.

- SN, once it's taken, and not being found, there's no way back, given no vomiting and exactly followed protocol and not being found too early

- inertgas/N2, CO, with proper preparations

 

[HighFlight]

IMHO, there are two perspective on this, in this case yours and your mom's. I believe that only your perspective can determine if this was a cry for help VS a true attempt. The distinguishing difference is your intent, which only you can know. To me, a cry for help would be a situation where you wanted to be saved or stopped. Whether overtly, such as in @DeadPool360 's example, or made a poor attempt somewhere you knew you would be found, or with a method with a very low likelihood of success.

However, your mom may have a different perception based on what she knows, and wants to believe about you and the situation. As a result, she may see a failed attempt as being a cry for help, even if you were truly attempting to ctb.

I would say that only you are in a position to determine what's a cry for help VS an attempt. But sometimes, perception is more important than reality.

I'm sorry she responded the way she did. As a parent, it's hard to believe our child would want to ctb, and that definitely clouds our thinking.

 

[DeadPool360]

I'm sorry that life brought you to this point. But regarding your question I have a personal defintion. It mainly depends on the chosen method and how accurate someone plans and finally executes their chosen method.

Cry for help examples:

- OD with "regular" sleeping pills is certainly a cry for help because ctb is more than unlikely with this method.

- Partial hanging, it seems to have a high failure rate, due to SI and other factors (but done right it's also very effective!!!) Some reports mention that the rope losend while they were unconscrious, this is also certainly a cry for help, because a knot can be tied to an anchorpoint so that it doesn't losen at all.

Genuine attempt examples:

- Full suspension hanging (short/long drop) given a well tied rope to the anchor point that can hold more than 3x body weight and nothing in reach to put your feet back on.

- SN, once it's taken, and not being found, there's no way back, given no vomiting and exactly followed protocol and not being found too early

- inertgas/N2, CO, with proper preparations

Wait a minute what if a person couldn't find the fatal methods and just had to try the ones you classified as a cry for help does that mean that they were In less pain or hoping to be found ?

 

[Praestat_Mori]

Wait a minute what if a person couldn't find the fatal methods and just had to try the ones you classified as a cry for help does that mean that they were In less pain or hoping to be found ?

That's a good and legit point, I didn't think of. I wanted to edit that in my post. It's really difficult to draw a clear line here but as OP is already here I assumed they know sth about really fatal methods already.

It does not mean that my personal defintion (and I mentioned that in my post) applies to everyone. Everyone who tries CTB have their personal reasons and I fully respect that. I did not want to offend anyone with my post. It's my personal defintion.

 

[FuneralCry]

I think a "cry for help" is when someone attempts a method that they know will fail with the intention of being "saved" so that other people know how they are feeling, another name for this is a suicide gesture I think.

An suicide attempt is when somebody attempts a method with the intention of actually dying, I think it's quite insensitive when actual suicide attempts are labelled as a "cry for help" as that term invalidates the wish to die, suicide just isn't straightforward in this world as after all suicide is purposely made as difficult as possible for people.

 

[Erik.t.f]

I think it's quite insensitive when actual suicide attempts are labelled as a "cry for help" as that term invalidates the wish to die, suicide just isn't straightforward in this world as after all suicide is purposely made as difficult as possible for people.

i could not agree more.

even if you example OD but expects to be found it probably a cry for help but you still accepted the risk of actually CTB so i would call that a failed attempt if you get saved

i dont think you need to be 100% commited to die for it to be an actual ctb attempt, i doubt that most who have CTB was 100% committed/sure about it

 

[Sapphire]

It depends on what your intention is. If you do something with the intention of killing yourself, then it is a serious attempt.

It is a serious attempt if someone picks a reliable method and plans to go through with it, knowing that if he does this, he will die. He doesn't tell anyone of his plans because he doesn't want to be stopped.

It Is a cry for help if someone has no intention of doing something that would actually kill them. They keep threatening to kill themselves without ever making an attempt, or they do something that they know won't kill them like making a few superficial cuts on their arm or taking a handful of otc sleeping pills.

 

[Lavender Dreams]

It's as straightforward as it can be. A cry for help is when your desired outcome is surviving and other people helping out in the resolution of your problems. You are not actually intending to be gone. I consider an attempt to be genuine when you wish to die, or become indifferent to the end result.