has anyone ever actually been helped by 911, hotline, or psych ward?

[kettlevinbarq]

Any psych professional has always told me, if you find yourself in an emergency, dial 911. resources are always like, dial 911 or the hotline.
one time, when I was 12, I was speaking to the hotline and all of a sudden, cops are at my bedroom door inside my house forcing me to the hospital. when we got to the hospital, the 2 cops were snickering to each other and making racist jokes about my mom. fuck the hotline and fuck the cops, they just made everything worse.

 

[leavingthesoultrap]

Going to psych ward in Canada was one of the worst experiences I ever had.
Don't recommend

 

[doomedtolive]

my best friend got sent to a ward because he was suicidal but not high risk. he said it helped him but it still wasn't fun (shitty food, missing school, weird people) i'm glad he went, it seemed to make him happier and i was really relieved to see him better:

might be rare tho, he got lucky that it wasn't a shit ward with terrible people

 

[depthss]

Any psych professional has always told me, if you find yourself in an emergency, dial 911. resources are always like, dial 911 or the hotline.
one time, when I was 12, I was speaking to the hotline and all of a sudden, cops are at my bedroom door inside my house forcing me to the hospital. when we got to the hospital, the 2 cops were snickering to each other and making racist jokes about my mom. fuck the hotline and fuck the cops, they just made everything worse.

Not me, I used to talk to crisis hotlines regularly, and they all just said the same recycled lines. Never found anything helpful

 

[AInilam]

Nope, their abuse and mistreatment only furthered my mistrust of people. It is just another institution to enforce the status quo with total disregard and disrespect of human life and dignity. It i s because of them that I'm convinced that this world is deeply broken and can never be fixed. If treating me like some wild animal was there idea of helping, I feel sorry for all the misguided people they've failed, who were hurting and reached out to them in their time of need.

 

[Freyja13]

The best service I've had was calling the Trans Lifeline. I spoke with a peer who actually got it and made me feel understood and less suicidal. It certainly wasn't perfect but it was better than nothing. Plus I actually felt safe talking to them since they have a policy against active rescue, meaning they absolutely will not call authorities without your explicit consent. I felt free to actually tell someone how I'm feeling without fear.

I've also seemed to have had a better-than-average experience when I went to a psych ward. It wasn't amazing but it definitely kept me alive and I did leave with more tools than when I entered. Before they transferred me from the ER MHU to the actual psych ward was pretty bad though. The staff were not trans-competent at all and I had to share space with a transphobic patient. I actually felt like killing myself even more after I got there lmao. I should mention that I did voluntarily admit myself fully expecting them to have to incarcerate me. It's not like my freedom was ripped out from under my feet after divulging intense suicidal ideation & plans. I have had this happen before and oh god do I never want that to happen EVER again. In this case I knew what I was getting myself into other than the transphobia I encountered. That caught me off guard in a moment where I wasn't in a headspace to advocate for myself.

I have called a crisis line that does do active rescue but I had to guard what I said so much and didn't feel safe that it was almost pointless. I would've had a similar experience talking to a friend about something boring like the weather. I wouldn't call them again. I also tried their text based service but honestly that literally felt extremely insincere like they were copy-pasting from a script so I just quickly told them I felt much better and discontinued the conversation. That felt like a kick in the gut and I actually felt even more suicidal after. I ended up talking to a friend which after which helped a lot more.

I've never called 911 for myself, although I've had many times where I probably should have. I really just want to avoid a traumatic run in with the police. I don't trust them to have any clue how to handle a mental health crisis with the compassion and care it demands. I'd have a higher chance of being shot, which strikes me as funny tbh.

I'm sorry you had such a shitty experience when you were twelve. That's an awful thing for a kid to have to go through. That must have been such a dehumanising and helpless feeling. I wish I could give little twelve year old you a hug and comfort you instead of having two armed racists show up at your bedroom door.

I hope you've had a restful night and today treats you with kindness. Try to be patient and loving with yourself. You deserve it :3

 

[Hollowman]

The last time i was in the ward the incompetent staff gave me the means to attempt. Wish it would've worked. So yeah they almost helped me.

 

[kettlevinbarq]

The best service I've had was calling the Trans Lifeline. I spoke with a peer who actually got it and made me feel understood and less suicidal. It certainly wasn't perfect but it was better than nothing. Plus I actually felt safe talking to them since they have a policy against active rescue, meaning they absolutely will not call authorities without your explicit consent. I felt free to actually tell someone how I'm feeling without fear.

I've also seemed to have had a better-than-average experience when I went to a psych ward. It wasn't amazing but it definitely kept me alive and I did leave with more tools than when I entered. Before they transferred me from the ER MHU to the actual psych ward was pretty bad though. The staff were not trans-competent at all and I had to share space with a transphobic patient. I actually felt like killing myself even more after I got there lmao. I should mention that I did voluntarily admit myself fully expecting them to have to incarcerate me. It's not like my freedom was ripped out from under my feet after divulging intense suicidal ideation & plans. I have had this happen before and oh god do I never want that to happen EVER again. In this case I knew what I was getting myself into other than the transphobia I encountered. That caught me off guard in a moment where I wasn't in a headspace to advocate for myself.

I have called a crisis line that does do active rescue but I had to guard what I said so much and didn't feel safe that it was almost pointless. I would've had a similar experience talking to a friend about something boring like the weather. I wouldn't call them again. I also tried their text based service but honestly that literally felt extremely insincere like they were copy-pasting from a script so I just quickly told them I felt much better and discontinued the conversation. That felt like a kick in the gut and I actually felt even more suicidal after. I ended up talking to a friend which after which helped a lot more.

I've never called 911 for myself, although I've had many times where I probably should have. I really just want to avoid a traumatic run in with the police. I don't trust them to have any clue how to handle a mental health crisis with the compassion and care it demands. I'd have a higher chance of being shot, which strikes me as funny tbh.

I'm sorry you had such a shitty experience when you were twelve. That's an awful thing for a kid to have to go through. That must have been such a dehumanising and helpless feeling. I wish I could give little twelve year old you a hug and comfort you instead of having two armed racists show up at your bedroom door.

I hope you've had a restful night and today treats you with kindness. Try to be patient and loving with yourself. You deserve it :3

<333333

 

[IWishToDie]

Any psych professional has always told me, if you find yourself in an emergency, dial 911. resources are always like, dial 911 or the hotline.
one time, when I was 12, I was speaking to the hotline and all of a sudden, cops are at my bedroom door inside my house forcing me to the hospital. when we got to the hospital, the 2 cops were snickering to each other and making racist jokes about my mom. fuck the hotline and fuck the cops, they just made everything worse.

Criminals get more respect than mental patients. Don't trust them at all.

 

[Unattainable666]

I've found all to be worthless.

 

[Abyssal]

Hotline helped once. Wasn't so suicidal, just passive without plan and unable to get out of bed. Felt like everyone hated me. Tried my luck calling and a kind lady answered. We talked and she analyzed the conversation we had to point out my social strengths and stuff. Made me feel good enough to take a shower after like 2 weeks of laying around.

Every other time was useless, but those usually were out of desperation for answers that the service couldn't have provided me anyways.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

No but all of those methods have been used on friends or family of mine and for every one of them it has sucked according to them. My sister has had 911 called on her by her friends and it just led to a fat emergency room bill that we're still paying off even though all she did was sit there while the actual medical professionals were helping out people with Covid instead of her. She later got moved into a psych ward where she said she couldn't have her phone or even her retainer (yeah nice going making people not want to commit suicide by unstraightening their teeth). Another friend of mine also got sent into a psych ward last month for attempting suicide near her work but for her it was even worse because instead of being sent to one nearby, that one was full so she had to be sent to one all the way in Sacramento about two hours away from us. She said it sucked too. All she did was get forced to participate in group activities.

This just solidifies my belief that psych wards aren't meant to help. They're meant to infantilize and punish the suicidal by putting them into glorified timeout corners. Why else can't we be allowed to bring in our phones or even my goddamn Nintendo Switch? Oh because it can be used to hurt ourselves? Hello? If you believe that mental pain can be just as bad as physical pain then taking away our rights and small things that actually do bring joy should be just as painful. If I ever get sent to one, you can bet that I'm just going to harass the fuck out of everyone there and do my best to ruin it even if it means they keep me there for the rest of my miserable life. Maybe if I behave extra badly they'll just let me out early or even just wish I was dead! I'd rather not have to do all that though so you can all be sure that I'll be taking every measure necessary to not get sent to one ever.

As for hotlines, I've never tried one but I doubt they'd be as helpful as people love to claim they are either. Even if it is a little bit helpful, I still think a lot about that one King of the Hill episode where Bill had called the hotline so much that they were sick of him and almost begging him to just do it already. If I ever wanted to be encouraged to kill myself more I guess that's when I'd start deciding to use one.

 

[Thanksforeverything]

my best friend got sent to a ward because he was suicidal but not high risk.

Can I ask how he expressed his suicidal ideation? I'm planning on talking to a therapist about how I can't find a point in life itself, but not mention anything about getting SN or actual plans, and I thought that would be enough. But now I'm scared that I'm only going to get much worse if I'm institutionalized despite stating that I don't have plans.

 

[breezeboy]

"Can I get a HELL NO??" - stone cold steve austin voice

 

[cosmic_traveler]

Any psych professional has always told me, if you find yourself in an emergency, dial 911. resources are always like, dial 911 or the hotline.
one time, when I was 12, I was speaking to the hotline and all of a sudden, cops are at my bedroom door inside my house forcing me to the hospital. when we got to the hospital, the 2 cops were snickering to each other and making racist jokes about my mom. fuck the hotline and fuck the cops, they just made everything worse.

We've had the same experience when dialing the hotline. We've been to 3 different wards, same place different colors. We've tried several types of antidepressants. CTB is the cure to this disease. And yes, fuck the police. We wish you peace. Be well on your journey.

 

[ceilng_tile]

Why I will never call a hotline: https://lithub.com/on-suicidal-sharks-and-self-harm/

 

[Suicidebydeath]

I feel like the police in my country (not US) are generally good guys, might be cultural, they aren't perfect. Official general hotlines kind of suck, specialized charity ones might be better.

I wouldn't ever call 911 for a mental breakdown. Too many horror stories. Wouldn't call the police in my country either, police are best at dealing with serious crimes, not so much petty crimes and other things. I wonder why they even sent cops instead of paramedics for your 911.