SUICIDE PREVENTION

[Lonelyheart]

This is a repost of part of a discussion already started in the "Support Forum" under "Suicide Post". Due to the significant and passionate interest, I have chosen to continue that discussion in the form of a poll. I chose to continue the topic in the social anxiety section since it is the most frequently visited forum. For more backround on this subject and great words of wisdom by other members feel free to check out the post in the "Support Forum" under "Suicide Post".

I think most of us have felt suicidal at some point in our lives; I know I have. This is a support forum so the goal would be to prevent suicide not encourage it. There are other suicide forums online; however, most of us here suffer from social phobia. Do you really think a social phobic is going to talk to a stranger about their most personal issues? Some of us won't even talk to a stranger about the weather.

Additionally, Social Phobia World is one of the few places we can go where people understand what we're going through. The problems that a suicidal social phobic faces may be similar to problems we've dealt with ourselves; as a result, we may have a greater probabilty of saving a life than some random stranger. Of course, a suicidal social phobic could use other resources as well, but the more support a suffering person receives the more likely they are to not commite suicide

I recommend you start a new forum on this website called suicide prevention. I don't understand how the government could be against a forum who's goal is to prevent suicide.

What do you-all think?

 

[Sacrament]

Of course it should. It's a stupid thing that this forum censors suicide. What if someone has nowhere else to go for help?

 

[Kinetik]

I think suicide should definitely be allowed to be discussed on SPW in general, but I don't know that it warrants its own forum. Seems to me like we'd only get a handful of posts in there on an annual basis.

 

[Warlock]

I say yes because if it helps 1 person or saves 1 person who would have committed suicide otherwise than it is worth it. If the internet didn't exist, I would have killed myself by now.

 

[SqueakyGibson]

Tough subject.

Suicide needs to be discussed. For many of us, it's an important part of our lives. An important thought that runs through our minds. To not be able to discuss it means we can't discuss a large chunk of our problems.

However

Making people online responsible for whether or not you try a suicide attempt... I can't get with that. Putting someone in the position of talking you out of suicide is an incredibly high-pressure thing. I wouldn't feel comfortable here if I knew there was a forum where my words could stop a person from dying. Do I read the threads and try to save lives? Do I stay out of it, and feel guilty that I could have saved someone? Do I take part, say the wrong thing, and feel guilty that my words killed them? It's too dodgy.

Now, whether a social phobic who's scared to use phones can actually call The Samaritans (or other suicide helplines) is another matter, so yeah, who do you turn to? It's tough.

I feel such guilt that I've put online friends through that in the past. Only trained professionals can deal with it.

So my conclusion is that suicide should be allowed to enter debate in regular practical discussions. But the forum should not offer itself as a "talk me out of suicide" service. At the most, we should do what we can to make sure a suicidal forum member has the means to call a professional.