Do you support any suicide prevention methods?

[DyingToDie123]

I was just reading an article about how making opioids packaged in blister packaging reduces suicide rates, and it struck me that that's kind of a good thing? I support people's right to die, but I think they should be encouraged to think about it carefully first.

Other examples of interventions you support? (Or don't?)

 

[MourningDove]

Simple signs in places where people regularly CTB (hotline numbers, encouraging statements). It doesn't force anything on anyone, and it's just there, on a wall, on a sign, piece of paper, anything

 

[hibikikyuxx]

I support free will. I think that if a person has issues but wants to get better, then they should be able to get every help they need. I also think that if a person is suffering and wants to die, then they should be able to. Nobody asked to be born and not everyone wants to live. Society needs to accept that. It's insane how society thinks that it's okay to euthanize animals, but not humans. They give dogs a better death than they give to fellow humans.

 

[Arcitect]

I honestly don't really like ads that say "Don't do it". They don't give you any actual solutions, they just tell you to keep on going despite the pain and suffering. Sometimes I feel more like a tool than a person. Like, I'm just here to be used, then disposed of when I'm useless.

 

[DyingToDie123]

I honestly don't really like ads that say "Don't do it". They don't give you any actual solutions, they just tell you to keep on going despite the pain and suffering. Sometimes I feel more like a tool than a person. Like, I'm just here to be used, then disposed of when I'm useless.

Someone actually wrote a memo on this in my public policy ethics class that I reviewed. It said there's little or even slightly negative impact from most suicide prevention campaigns. They don't measure their impact in suicides prevented, they measure it in public attitudes toward suicide, which doesn't really say anything if your sample doesn't include the people who died because it didn't work on them. Also a lot of nonprofits place doing suicide prevention messaging put their logos embarrassingly prominently on their materials, like they're just advertising for donations. Crazy stuff.

 

[Blurry_Buildings]

In the US if you are found to be suicidal they throw you in a psych ward involuntarily and then try to charge you incredible amounts of money after wards, so no, I don't.

The suicide hotline is just a screening tool for the involuntary hospitalization.

The reality is they don't care enough to make it free or to actually offer any solutions to the root cause of your problem, they just care that you killing yourself is an inconvenience and can slightly damage the local economy (or the few individuals in your area who make exponential profits off of your labor).

Politicians also need to keep in mind what system will provide the seemingly greatest level of morality while also keeping costs low so that their donors don't have pay taxes.

 

[UKscotty]

No, it's pointless anyway.

Once someone makes up their mind it's too late.

 

[Blurry_Buildings]

No, it's pointless anyway.

Once someone makes up their mind it's too late.

You could also say that the more suicide rates increase, the more it reflects poorly on the society itself. The more people die, the more the society has already failed.

We've lost something fundamental in the modern world, unfortunately I'll never know what exactly it is.

Or maybe it's just me lol

 

[bret217]

In the US if you are found to be suicidal they throw you in a psych ward involuntarily and then try to charge you incredible amounts of money after wards, so no, I don't.

The suicide hotline is just a screening tool for the involuntary hospitalization.

The reality is they don't care enough to make it free or to actually offer any solutions to the root cause of your problem, they just care that you killing yourself is an inconvenience and can slightly damage the local economy (or the few individuals in your area who make exponential profits off of your labor).

Politicians also need to keep in mind what system will provide the seemingly greatest level of morality while also keeping costs low so that their donors don't have pay taxes.

You can just walk out if you're a legal adult. Would have to get a court order to keep you there, which is hard.

 

[CrazyDiamond04]

I do support them but I think they should be voluntary.

 

[Cress]

Yes I support preventative Measures. That doesn't mean that I support prevent suicidality at all costs. The way I see preventative measures is to try to give society opportunity to correct whatever issues you might be having going on and depending on those results you can maybe consider an official pathway for catching the bus through the government similar to what Canada has.

The way I see it even if we had a official channel to catch the bus It would at the very least involve some sort of preliminary to see if we could maybe correct what issues you have going on before giving up on it as a hopeless cause. You can call that preventative measures if you want But I consider it just caring about the well being of your fellow humans.

 

[Blurry_Buildings]

You can just walk out if you're a legal adult. Would have to get a court order to keep you there, which is hard.

I've seen it happen to people who are deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others. The psych ward is locked and they don't let you out unless they don't think you are a danger.

I'm sure it can vary depending on the state though so my experience may not be applicable

 

[Install-Gentoo]

1: prevent the cause, not the effect. If your country experiences many suicides due to harsh working conditions, introduce some new rules or cultural changes to make work more bearable. If people want to die due to extreme debt, or inability to afford medical treatment, or monetary reasons, then fix the economy or at least target certain problematic aspects of it. If people want to die due to unchangeable genetic problems, well... I suppose it can't be helped, or maybe it can be via a genetic screening program. Either way, don't just prevent suicide, prevent people from wanting suicide in the first place.
2: offer a safe, informed, and responsible way out. This might seem counter-intuitive, but I think it could potentially work. Think about the reason for this site's existence. It's because you're not allowed to talk about suicide anywhere else, otherwise you get treated like a crazy person possessed by the devil. You get told that "that's not you talking, that's just your depression" and all that. Instead, if society were less judgemental, and we instead made people sign up for a 6 month program where they go to group therapy with their loved ones and everyone is instructed on how to handle grief and loss and all that... It could lead to the person dying anyway, and those close to them would at least be prepared for it. Or, it could have the opposite effect, especially on people that might have otherwise made an impulsive decision. They would be shown the implications of them dying and they would have the time to realize it's a bad idea, and they would be able to see all this because they were allowed to open up about it. Again, it doesn't initially make sense to say that creating a path to a more responsible suicide could actually reduce suicide numbers, but I think it's possible.
3: In the absence of the last option, I like what someone wrote earlier in this thread about hotlines and stuff being shown in popular jumping spots or whatever. It's non-coercive and completely optional. However I think it's possible that those numbers might be dismissed because the jumper might not take those hotlines seriously and it feels very impersonal. Instead, there could be posters or just text saying "have you made your last conversation with your family yet?" "Do your friends know?" "Have you written a note?" "Do you want to be found like this?" just various short things to make the person think about if they're actually ready. If they are, and they're sure this is the method they want, then oh well, they're dead. But it's a preventative measure that could be more effective than just posting the anti suicide hotline. Plus, not everyone has a cell phone to call the hotline anyway.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I read an article once where someone had jumped off a bridge. They interviewed one of the people that patrolled the bridge who had spotted them but were too late to stop them. She actually sounded really nice. She said some potential jumpers actually seemed eager and relieved to talk to someone. I guess I think it's important for people to be there for those who may actually welcome the support. I just don't like how heavy handed it is. I don't think it should be forceful. I think it needs to be up to the person as to whether they want to accept that help. I suppose I don't like the thought of people just doing it and no one intervening because it does look like no one really gives a shit but I think the way people intervene is important. I think primarily- the decision still needs to lie with the suicidal person. Unless they are clearly out of their mind. That's where the difficulty lies though. Who can assess that? Probably not first responders.

With regards to other potentially lethal substances, it's tricky really. Speaking selfishly- I want out. It's really problematic when things like SN are heavily restricted. That said, I'm not madly keen on the idea of children killing themselves. Not that I blame them- I was a suicidal child too. I still personally believe that the sale of lethal or intoxicating substances should be to over 18's though.

The problem lies with the regulation of assisting a suicide. Everyone is going to disagree on who has the right/capacity to take their own life. If there are certain restrictions that would be wise- you can't expect a shop assistant to decide on whether this person is likely to harm themselves with said substance. And- if they are- are they mentally competent to be able to make that decision? So- unfortunately for us- anything potentually lethal becomes restricted. The ideal of course would be to legalise assisted suicide and regulate it. That way- people wouldn't have to risk haphazard methods.

 

[アホペンギン]

There are a lot of suicide prevention methods that don't do any harm and at times do actually help, if directed towards certain people and those are the methods that I support and don't mind but when it comes to enforcing their views and their desire to prevent suicide by causing harm, condemning people to even further unbearable suffering by interfering in attempts or treating them as if they are incapable of deciding for themselves, I don't support it in the slightest.

I want these suicide prevention methods to be passive, and not aggressive. Just some slight encouragement that life could be worth living with the right help and to reconsider.

 

[steppenwolf]

Opioids are great. I have a friend who worked in a charity shop who had a pile of boxes of blue sevredols dumped on him as a charitable donation, presumably they belonged to someone who died in less agony than they would have done without them. Whatever pain you're in, whether of body or of mind, just a couple of those and it's somebody else's problem for two or three days. The only trouble is that you have to very careful not to build up a tolerance, and you build up a tolerance immediately.

 

[FuneralCry]

No absolutely not. The decision to cease existing on our own terms should only ever be respected, pro-life people should just learn to mind their own business and accept that other people's decisions aren't theirs to make.

I don't understand the view that suicide is even something to prevent as we all have our right to die and people shouldn't have to suffer just because other people want to stay here, I don't see what is supposedly so bad about death to justify it being prevented. In fact all that is bad is ultimately as a result of existence in the first place.

One cannot suffer from not existing, yet there is no limit as to how much one can suffer in this existence they were unfortunate enough to be burdened with.
So therefore people should be able to die in peace whenever they wish to, in my case wanting to die is all that feels rational. The view that suicide is something to prevented automatically implies that existence is always a desirable state which for me it could never be. I see suicide as suffering prevention, and having the option to prevent futile, unnecessary suffering through leaving this harmful and cruel existence is what I see as important.

 

[Cage]

Yet another thinly veiled pro-life thread. They just can't stop giving

 

[Rogue Proxy]

Best suicide prevention: do not reproduce.

Yet another thinly veiled pro-life thread. They just can't stop giving

Ugh, I just got an image of holiday-themed suicide prevention propaganda piggybacking off of phrases like "The gift that keeps on giving" and the ever-inane adage "Better to give than to receive."

On a lighter note, I'm picturing uplifting ads for birth control and condoms praising how stopping pregnancy prevents future suicides.

 

[venomousSSërpent74]

it should always be an option it lets people know that this is available gives them somewhere else to turn before making a heavy decisions to CTB but we should also have places like SaSu so they can feel heard and not feel alone and clouded by pro-lifers in case they feel they have exhausted all their options. also Things like this only exist because of CTB trying to save people who don't want to be saved, it is everywhere it is one of the first things they give you when you go to the doctor even if your not there for that specific reason which makes people scared if you have experienced it won't really help you, you'll just do everything to avoid being in that situation again i'm neutral about suicide prevention. therapist you can't trust because they have to send you away if you talk about killing yourself it is your choice not anyone else's.

 

[Spiritual survivor]

Only in a very compassionate way, and only for people who are able to continue and enjoy life again. Definitely for young healthy people especially. Not the way they do it now no. It's like they punish suicidal people and suicide. U can't punish people for suicide if they don't have great alternatives to heal and can't expect to have high quality of life. People who have terrible incureable illnesses that make it impossible to live comfortably or without immense suffering should be able to have the option to exit humanely. Many psychiatric issues could be helped but they don't make it easily accessible for everyone so I get why people want to end it. But also u have to make it so the conditions in society are conducive to want to be here.