Discussion Does alcohol reduce SI?

[WallTermite]

Does alcohol increase your courage to ctb? From experience or research?

I've heard it several time, that alcohol braves you out. I've heard when pirates were sentenced to death, they would be given a gun and alcohol so that they are brave enough to do it. Makes sense since it is a cns depressant.

How drunk would you have to be?

 

[h4ppyhypoxia]

actually its kinda funny alcohol basically saved my life when i was impulsively going to ctb by jumping from a bridge in march, as soon as i got there, it "fully kicked in" and i was thinking "wait, i actually feel nice right now, i may as well go home and enjoy this, i can always end my life tomorrow" but i was very drunk and im glad that it stopped me because if i had jumped i could have lived with some horrible horrible complications, in the morning, i was offered a new mental health treatment, so i decided i was just going to live and give that a try bc sober me didnt want to risk surviving with complications

 

[WallTermite]

actually its kinda funny alcohol basically saved my life when i was impulsively going to ctb by jumping from a bridge in march, as soon as i got there, it "fully kicked in" and i was thinking "wait, i actually feel nice right now, i may as well go home and enjoy this, i can always end my life tomorrow" but i was very drunk and im glad that it stopped me because if i had jumped i could have lived with some horrible horrible complications, in the morning, i was offered a new mental health treatment, so i decided i was just going to live and give that a try bc sober me didnt want to risk surviving with complications

That's interesting. I guess your desire to ctb went away but so did your SI, since you were feeling "nice".

I will have to run some experiments for sure. I'll get drunk and see how I feel when thinking of actually going at night in the middle of nowhere. The real experience will be different of course.

Thanks for replying

 

[h4ppyhypoxia]

That's interesting. I guess your desire to ctb went away but so did your SI, since you were feeling "nice".

I will have to run some experiments for sure. I'll get drunk and see how I feel when thinking of actually going at night in the middle of nowhere. The real experience will be different of course.

Thanks for replying

yeah no problem, i should mention though that this was a time where my suicidality was very linked to mood and more like chronic background noise with occasional impulsive flare ups, its evolved since then into a rational decision, which is probably why alcohol effected me in that way

 

[SkeletonFlower96]

yes, it does, but i'm planning to CTB with SN, so that's not an option.

 

[Russell1882]

actually its kinda funny alcohol basically saved my life when i was impulsively going to ctb by jumping from a bridge in march, as soon as i got there, it "fully kicked in" and i was thinking "wait, i actually feel nice right now, i may as well go home and enjoy this, i can always end my life tomorrow" but i was very drunk and im glad that it stopped me because if i had jumped i could have lived with some horrible horrible complications, in the morning, i was offered a new mental health treatment, so i decided i was just going to live and give that a try bc sober me didnt want to risk surviving with complications

I rarely drink, but yeah, alcohol usually makes me feel better and more optimistic, so in my case it would not work to fight SI.

 

[sadbh—itstimetogo🤎]

Lol I once asked for help when I was drunk, so it just depends

 

[RazzleDazzle]

actually its kinda funny alcohol basically saved my life when i was impulsively going to ctb by jumping from a bridge in march, as soon as i got there, it "fully kicked in" and i was thinking "wait, i actually feel nice right now, i may as well go home and enjoy this, i can always end my life tomorrow"

I have actually heard other people describe this dynamic of "alcohol saved my life because it kept me from killing myself." Basically, that drinking made them feel okay enough with staying alive that they made it through feeling suicidal by becoming an alcoholic, basically. And then later got sober.

The last time I was feeling seriously suicidal five years ago, I decided to try drinking for a while. Which didn't solve anything, but was enough to get me past it.

This time around, I don't know. I don't know if that would work again. Alcohol works until it doesn't.

 

[Forveleth]

I had to stop drinking before my attempts, because instead of making me more willing to kill myself, it made me giggly, and I decided life was not so bad after all, and I did not even do my attempt.