Help I will volunteer in a research study, talking about my mental health journey. Should I mention my online activity?

[SoulCage]

A research study, conducted by students from a local university, is looking for volunteers with mental illnesses to talk about their journey.

A big part of my journey, the past 2 years, is this website. I have read many opinions on whether it's good or bad to talk about this website to outsiders. But what about researchers? Would it be good to tell them how good it was to have one place on this forsaken planet that feels real? Or better to keep it to myself, otherwise they might focus their next research on a website like SaSu and subsequently bring more focus to it (with bad consequences.. like in the UK).

I would never mention the name or the exact contents of it (like discussion of methods or goodbye threads). Maybe I will just refer to it as an online support group that I found on Reddit or something...

What do you think?

 

[Dot]

Frm psych gradu8 perscptve mny ppl wld fnd th/ th/ persnl effcts of th/ ste intrestng - thy wld prbbly nt hve mny opprtuntis t/ lk t/ membrs s/ cnnt C hw mentnng th/ ste wld b bd thng

Also rsearch = alrdy b-ing dne on th/ ste s/ thnk tht u wld nt b xposng th/ ste t/ n.e threts - mdia alrdy tke cre of tht

 

[SoulCage]

Also rsearch = alrdy b-ing dne on th/ ste s/ thnk tht u wld nt b xposng th/ ste t/ n.e threts - mdia alrdy tke cre of tht

Well.. I believe that it's not really known in my country. Especially not reported by local media outlets (like the BBC did in the UK).
But maybe I am thinking too much of potential consequences that would happen regardless of what I will say in the study interview. They might just report it, because they heard about it from examples in the UK...

 

[hmnow]

Is the study with a reputable organization. Usually they ethical guidelines that apply look at them and discuss issues bout privacy directly with them

My feelings is that a true study must look at reality and SS is part of many people's lives.

So I'd say yes. If you are comfortable with their ethical standards

 

[itsgone2]

I can see your concern, but you'd also be discussing the positive aspects of the site. So could be good really.

 

[webb&flow]

This forum has been extensively covered by scientific research. I highly encourage you to read this post from the admin, to get a sense of some of this research coverage.

Dismantling the allegation that we're pro-suicide.

Most members who have been active in this forum for a while know that the media has blatantly misrepresented the purpose and philosophy of this forum for years. For example, let's take a look at these articles here...

sanctioned-suicide.net

First of all, consider what YOU are comfortable with sharing.

Another thing. There are many sound and fair critiques one could make of this forum, but one thing is for sure; it is an immense wealth of information about how people experience and proceed through mental health crises and traumatic situations and environments.

If you think it was a big part of your mental health journey, you could be directing passionate research students to a place that contains a massive amount of information about vulnerable individuals and the way they feel and think during their own experience of mental health struggles.

I would never mention the name or the exact contents of it (like discussion of methods or goodbye threads). Maybe I will just refer to it as an online support group that I found on Reddit or something...

You are free to do anything you wish. Do what is most comfortable for you. Do what you feel most vividly communicates your real life experience. You can say "an anonymous online forum, where expression of suicidal emotions is not prohibited", "a mental health support group", you can even name the forum itself if you are willing to do so, you can really do anything that you deem necessary.

You said this was the following.

A research study, conducted by students from a local university, is looking for volunteers with mental illnesses to talk about their journey.

So YOU get to explain YOUR journey, HOWEVER you like. I think this could be a great opportunity to express yourself and communicate your deep, affecting, and personal experience with this forum over the course of 2 whole years, while also educating budding and passionate research scientists on how to best care for people.

Or better to keep it to myself, otherwise they might focus their next research on a website like SaSu and subsequently bring more focus to it (with bad consequences.. like in the UK).

You are aware that UK users can still access this site through a VPN and other means, right? I mean we literally have users from the UK around here still posting. I think mental health researchers should be given focus on this site, though, so that they are more informed about the plights of people in general, and are more empowered to develop methods to better heal these people, as a result.

I have read many opinions on whether it's good or bad to talk about this website to outsiders.

As for 'outsiders', I think I can't totally agree with the distinction. :) I don't think that this forum is any secret club, heh. Obviously I'm not saying that you should buy a T-shirt that says "I'M A SANCTIONED SUICIDE FORUM POSTER" and stroll on down the street, but I do believe that if there is one group of people that should be aware of this forum, it is scientific researchers. I believe social science and psychological science can gain important insights on how to help more people and heal more lives, from the information on this forum, especially through the experiences people here have shared. Every single person's story of suffering here, if read properly by a researcher, can be used to prevent suffering in another person's life, or at least heal people in similar circumstances, and help to further heal the world of suffering and move towards preventing its causes.

There is no such thing as "outsiders" or "insiders", I believe. We are all humans, living together. Sometimes we tend to interact with people whom we feel we relate more with. That is what I believe to be the vast majority of this notion's origin.

If they do get the chance to interview you, I hope that they will greatly benefit from learning about your experience. :) Thank you so much for willing to consider giving your life experiences and personal accounts for the sake of science as a whole. These are incredibly sensitive experiences that many (understandably) are unable to provide due to (entirely justified) personal boundaries, and I firmly believe that whatever information that you contribute to their research, that it will have some good caused by it, be it directly or indirectly. :)

Thank you for your contributions to research, may you and many others be healed by it.

 

[caesium]

I think that as long as you're comfortable doing so, you should tell them. The only way we have a chance at getting mental health resources that actually help suicidal people is if more people who have lived these experiences are honest about them.

 

[claracatchingthebus]

Do the rules of the study promise complete confidentiality even if you are at high risk of suicide? Or is there a risk you could be coerced into in-patient care somehow?

I don't see how it's possible for most people to discuss being on this site without revealing an extremely high risk for committing suicide.

I don't trust mental health workers. One snake in a pit is just as slithery as the next one, even if they have different patterns on their scales. I wouldn't do it, but that's just me. Ultimately, these people are all part of the same apparatus that are willing to lock you up and make you suffer, no matter your level of physical or psychological pain, if the government and religious people demand that they prevent people from dying because it offends their religious myths. All of the scaly slimy snaked ultimately agree to this Faustian bargain of locking people up under horrible torturous suffering so they can be part of the club. They are all vile scum.

 

[SoulCage]

This forum has been extensively covered by scientific research. I highly encourage you to read this post from the admin, to get a sense of some of this research coverage.

Dismantling the allegation that we're pro-suicide.

Most members who have been active in this forum for a while know that the media has blatantly misrepresented the purpose and philosophy of this forum for years. For example, let's take a look at these articles here...

sanctioned-suicide.net

First of all, consider what YOU are comfortable with sharing.

Another thing. There are many sound and fair critiques one could make of this forum, but one thing is for sure; it is an immense wealth of information about how people experience and proceed through mental health crises and traumatic situations and environments.

If you think it was a big part of your mental health journey, you could be directing passionate research students to a place that contains a massive amount of information about vulnerable individuals and the way they feel and think during their own experience of mental health struggles.



You are free to do anything you wish. Do what is most comfortable for you. Do what you feel most vividly communicates your real life experience. You can say "an anonymous online forum, where expression of suicidal emotions is not prohibited", "a mental health support group", you can even name the forum itself if you are willing to do so, you can really do anything that you deem necessary.

You said this was the following.


So YOU get to explain YOUR journey, HOWEVER you like. I think this could be a great opportunity to express yourself and communicate your deep, affecting, and personal experience with this forum over the course of 2 whole years, while also educating budding and passionate research scientists on how to best care for people.


You are aware that UK users can still access this site through a VPN and other means, right? I mean we literally have users from the UK around here still posting. I think mental health researchers should be given focus on this site, though, so that they are more informed about the plights of people in general, and are more empowered to develop methods to better heal these people, as a result.


As for 'outsiders', I think I can't totally agree with the distinction. :) I don't think that this forum is any secret club, heh. Obviously I'm not saying that you should buy a T-shirt that says "I'M A SANCTIONED SUICIDE FORUM POSTER" and stroll on down the street, but I do believe that if there is one group of people that should be aware of this forum, it is scientific researchers. I believe social science and psychological science can gain important insights on how to help more people and heal more lives, from the information on this forum, especially through the experiences people here have shared. Every single person's story of suffering here, if read properly by a researcher, can be used to prevent suffering in another person's life, or at least heal people in similar circumstances, and help to further heal the world of suffering and move towards preventing its causes.

There is no such thing as "outsiders" or "insiders", I believe. We are all humans, living together. Sometimes we tend to interact with people whom we feel we relate more with. That is what I believe to be the vast majority of this notion's origin.

If they do get the chance to interview you, I hope that they will greatly benefit from learning about your experience. :) Thank you so much for willing to consider giving your life experiences and personal accounts for the sake of science as a whole. These are incredibly sensitive experiences that many (understandably) are unable to provide due to (entirely justified) personal boundaries, and I firmly believe that whatever information that you contribute to their research, that it will have some good caused by it, be it directly or indirectly. :)

Thank you for your contributions to research, may you and many others be healed by it.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, you are gave me lots of good points to think about.

A few of your questions I like to answer:

About users from the UK - I am well aware that many are still here. And I don't have data to proof how many left or couldn't find it in the first place, I was just saying this, because logically speaking: harder access makes numbers more likely to go down.
also... i just don't want people, who shouldn't give a fuck suddenly give a fuck about it and just continue to spread the media's lies - potentially reaching someone who could have benefitted from this site like me. I can't handle the thought of people in my irl circle talking about it and then I have to try to convince them that the news are just using it for clicks. I should... But I think I am not calm and intelligent enough to make the right arguments. :/
And I hope that nobody, who is like me, has to face this situation. It's really exhausting (in my experience).

About the "outsiders" topics... I think you are right. The word sounds a little too much like they don't belong here. I was using it to describe someone who is new to knowing about the existence of a website where talking about suicide (including methods discussion) is not forbidden. So not outsiders .. more like newbies.
and newbies can easily misinterpret information for something that was reported unprofessional by the news (everything that Rain said in the thread you linked). And then... It can just lead to confirmation biases and more people bringing hate to the site.

And thank you for your thank you?
I hope it will lead to improvements for everyone who suffers from any psycho/social conditions. Obviously, I hope it will be done correctly and the results not used to fuel some bad agendas. Also it's a small university in a small country in Europe.. not sure how far it will go.

Maybe I link the results here once they are done and public.

Do the rules of the study promise complete confidentiality even if you are at high risk of suicide? Or is there a risk you could be coerced into in-patient care somehow?

I don't see how it's possible for most people to discuss being on this site without revealing an extremely high risk for committing suicide.

I don't trust mental health workers. One snake in a pit is just as slithery as the next one, even if they have different patterns on their scales. I wouldn't do it, but that's just me. Ultimately, these people are all part of the same apparatus that are willing to lock you up and make you suffer, no matter your level of physical or psychological pain, if the government and religious people demand that they prevent people from dying because it offends their religious myths. All of the scaly slimy snaked ultimately agree to this Faustian bargain of locking people up under horrible torturous suffering so they can be part of the club. They are all vile scum.

Don't worry about me.

If there is one thing I learned about in my country... Nothing happens when I mention that I feel extremely hopeless and my suffering is unbearable and consider ending it as a solution. I was extremely hesitant in the beginning, because I read so much about involuntary hospitalizations. But at my lowest point, I kinda told a few doctors, therapists and crisis guides, because I couldn't overrule my SI as along as I didn't try telling "professional help" and... Nothing happened.

Right now I have one more place to try, because all others failed or ended... And will see what happens afterwards.
But scared of telling people I wanna die? Not anymore... They all don't seem to believe me I would actually do it. And right now... They are not even wrong.

 

[webb&flow]

They all don't seem to believe me I would actually do it.

i'm really sorry to hear people are brushing you off like this. you deserve care and healing, even if the people you might meet are not willing enough. i hope you will find better people who will give you their time, sincerity, and care. best wishes.