Venting People's obsession with shoving helplines in your face is so detrimental

[CatabolicSeed]

You literally cannot talk about suicide at all (outside SS and similar websites) without everyone going STOP! HERE'S A HELPLINE! :) and it completely halts any real helpful discussion that can be had about suicide. For example I used to try to use auto-therapy bots like Woebot and Wysa. Essentially the deal with these apps is they allow you to vent without actually having to talk to a real person, and can thus help you process stuff on your own. But if you so much as mention suicide they shove helplines in your face and make the entire process of the app immediately shut down. And if you google anything related to suicide (even innocuous stuff) or even just depression, top results are autofilled with a helpline.

And forget about if you try to mention stuff like this to a REAL therapist. they're always trying to make a "safety plan". Like newsflash, if I plan on killing myself I'm gonna kill myself. If you can't even talk to a therapist about suicide without them institutionalizing you or dropping you as a client because you're a "liability" (both of which happened to me), what's even the point? How are you supposed to work on healing from what makes you suicidal if you can't even talk about being suicidal? The whole system is so paradoxical and it's why I've stopped trying therapy entirely.

Helplines CAN be useful IF you get randomly assigned someone who's actually cool (which in my experience with Crisis Text Line happens about half the time), but they have to stop being treated as a one-size-fits-all cure to suicidality.

 

[paininme]

Helplines are anything but helpful if you manage to get through they follow a script

 

[Seiko]

I've always seen it as virtue signaling. It's more so for their own savior complexes rather than you. `

 

[CatabolicSeed]

Helplines are anything but helpful if you manage to get through they follow a script

It probably varies from helpline to helpline. I've only used Crisis Text Line because I have trouble speaking about suicide out loud, and I've never noticed a script with them. They don't really "help" but if I'm having a breakdown at 3am they can make me feel less alone short term.

I've always seen it as virtue signaling. It's more so for their own savior complexes rather than you. `

This is SO true.
--
Basically

 

[!WILL!]

I've tried several different helplines and none of them have helped. It's frustrating when people act like calling a helpline will be able to help every single suicidal person regardless of their circumstances. Sometimes I feel like people just link helplines because they don't know what else to say to a suicidal person and telling them to just call a hotline is easier.

 

[CatabolicSeed]

I've tried several different helplines and none of them have helped. It's frustrating when people act like calling a helpline will be able to help every single suicidal person regardless of their circumstances. Sometimes I feel like people just link helplines because they don't know what else to say to a suicidal person and telling them to just call a hotline is easier.

Absolutely. They want to be able to say "I did something" without actually doing anything.

 

[Alwaysbadtime]

They suck. They give really bad suggestions and advice that is dangerous and irresponsible. Non-suicidal people think they help and they don't. By the end it's always the same thing: do you have a plan to kill yourself? No plan....and thankx

 

[motel rooms]

They give really bad suggestions and advice that is dangerous and irresponsible.

What advice did they give you? I don't think they're creative enough to give dangerous advice

 

[Alwaysbadtime]

What advice did they give you? I don't think they're creative enough to give dangerous advice

It had to do with a following through on producing life and it giving me a sense purpose even though I told them I was extremely poor and fucked.

 

[Worndown]

Suggesting a helpline is probably meant well, but is the easy answer when you have no other.
Helplines can be no more than a bandaid to whoever calls. Their real job is to try to keep you alive until someone else can take over. They may be successful by annoying the caller enough that they stay alive so they can complain about it the next day.

 

[chocolatebar]

The suicide helpline here in Brazil is a joke. They're run by volunteers, who are mostly young people (the only prequisite is to be over 18) and we wait in a long line just to talk. You can call or talk via chat, but there are usually 50 of more people waiting.

 

[motel rooms]

It had to do with a following through on producing life and it giving me a sense purpose even though I told them I was extremely poor and fucked.

Fucking morons...

 

[Grumpy Bear]

Even having been suicidal for about 2 decades I've never given a helpline a try. I just assumed they are crap. Most pro-lifers are mindless.

 

[SuicidalAgain]

Is there any danger to call a help line? Like, if you say you have a plan, will they call the authorities or something? I never called them, but I was curious about calling not too long ago...

To me people generally just say to seek professional help and I kinda wanna show them all the posts in this forum by different people saying how it's really ineffective for most people, and how psychiatry has harmed the lives of so many here. They also seem to forget how expensive it is...

 

[Pure]

or dropping you as a client because you're a "liability"

This is one of the reasons I'm not bothering with therapy again

 

[MiseryWithoutCompany]

Is there any danger to call a help line? Like, if you say you have a plan, will they call the authorities or something?

It might depend on your country, but in the US, my experience is that they try to locate you. They keep baiting for conversation and stalling for time, so that they can call the police to your location to restrain you safely and transport you to the nearest in-patiant hospital.

This sounds like a relatively decent strategy. However, in my experience, while the police dedicated to this task are relatively friendly, the hotline doesn't seem yo care about the reputation of the nearby hospitals. One I was at recently had been shut down for mal-practice and patient neglect, investigation whose quality was looked into only because I filed a complaint.

If you have a VPN or your phone's location is turned off, they will drop the act and straight-up ask you for your location, releasing their intention slowly so that you don't hang up. This is all if you have a plan. It'd also be nice if the emergency service didn't turn around and bill you for it afterwards.

 

[Seiba]

Is there any danger to call a help line? Like, if you say you have a plan, will they call the authorities or something? I never called them, but I was curious about calling not too long ago...

To me people generally just say to seek professional help and I kinda wanna show them all the posts in this forum by different people saying how it's really ineffective for most people, and how psychiatry has harmed the lives of so many here. They also seem to forget how expensive it is...

Yes, the entire point of them of course is to be able to send you to a hospital. Of course, they won't do so to every single person that calls because they want to have some level of good will in their services. So it's largely dependent on luck and then the factor of how well you can convince them you won't act on a plan.

 

[Winklemate]

Like, people posting them probably have good intentions behind, I do agree that most of it just comes across as virtue signaling though I like to give the benefit of the doubt in most cases, still almost every-time the suicide hotline has ever come up I end up rolling my eyes, maybe followed with a thought of "Oh, fuck off" lol. So like I can totally relate. I guess for me, it's probably because the concept of it seems inherently unhelpful to me. Like how much value could I really extract for a hotline designated to preventing people from committing suicide? It just feels like the whole conversation would feel entirely artificial. I guess it's good that it's there for people who have found it helpful, but it's definitely not for me. And it does get irritating to see it plastered everywhere.

 

[Hercules]

Is there any danger to call a help line? Like, if you say you have a plan, will they call the authorities or something? I never called them, but I was curious about calling not too long ago...

To me people generally just say to seek professional help and I kinda wanna show them all the posts in this forum by different people saying how it's really ineffective for most people, and how psychiatry has harmed the lives of so many here. They also seem to forget how expensive it is...

Is there any danger to call a help line? Like, if you say you have a plan, will they call the authorities or something? I never called them, but I was curious about calling not too long ago...

To me people generally just say to seek professional help and I kinda wanna show them all the posts in this forum by different people saying how it's really ineffective for most people, and how psychiatry has harmed the lives of so many here. They also seem to forget how expensive it is...

Crisis lines act like a triage service similar to when you go to the ER. During your conversation, they will causually ask you questions to assess if you are a high suicide risk. Their job is to try to stop you from committing suicide in that moment. If you tell them that you have a plan and the means to do so, they will call EMS in order to try and stop you. Unfourtunately there is no privacy anymore. They do have means to locate you if they want to. If you call on your phone or use your tablet, they can use GPS to track your location. They can still track you, even if you turn the location services off. If you use your laptop to chat with them, they can track you by your IP address. One time, I used my laptop to chat with a crisis line online. In the middle of the conversation, the lady I spoke to told me what state I was from, even though I never mentioned it. She didn't call the police on me though.

 

[ClownMe]

 

[TheAmazingCriswell]

I've always seen it as virtue signaling. It's more so for their own savior complexes rather than you. `

It is also free. Let's see how many people are still supportive if you told them that you wouldn't kill yourself if someone paid for all your expenses and took care of your housework...

 

[BottomlessPit]

I highly recommend people to stop using google as much as possible, and instead use something like DuckDuckGo. Google censors and manipulates its search results like there's no tomorrow, not to mention the glaring lack of privacy...

 

[WatermelonMel]

And if you google anything related to suicide (even innocuous stuff) or even just depression, top results are autofilled with a helpline.

I play a game called "Can I search this up without the damn suicide prevention lifeline appearing?"

 

[FuneralCry]

I have heard many stories of people having negative experiences with helplines, I guess they can help some people feel less alone, but I think it depends on who you get or which helpline you choose. I do agree that it is constantly pushed around the internet. The idea of a helpline doesn't sound helpful at all for my situation. Talking will not do anything for me personally.

 

[Symbiote]

Even worse, when the same helpline throws another helpline at you.

 

[Yugochild]

It had to do with a following through on producing life and it giving me a sense purpose even though I told them I was extremely poor and fucked.

if it makes you feel any better, I've got money, but still extremely fucked. altho not having financial stresses on top of everything is helpful, the demons in me still rot my inside and eat my peace
I look on the top of this thread page and I find this.. why is this here!?

 

[gnomeboy17]

Exactly! At my lowest I never asked for help because I knew they would just try and stop me. These helplines/therapists aren't going to help the people who actually need help because we know we have to censor our true thoughts and plans.

 

[brokenwaves]

honestly the last thing i would want when i'm at my most vulnerable is to talk to some stranger on the phone. oh i want to die, better ring up a complete stranger and open up? idk why these helplines are suggested like this is a thing the majority of people would feel comfortable doing…

 

[CatTheBus5689]

For some people I imagine that's all they know to do. I'd rather they try to pass me off to someone they think knows what they're doing than have them jump at the opportunity to shit positive horseshit from the anus they chew food with.

 

[WaterHemlock]

Well I've just spent several hours waiting in line to talk to someone, anyone, and just getting pathetically drunk all alone. I don't know why I bother reaching out.
I know I always feel worse though when I try. Noone to talk to and the suicide hotline doesn't answer.
Makes me wonder if anyone will even notice when I'm gone.
I picture myself in the afterlife wandering around, looking for someone to connect to.