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How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

JlolSenior Contributor21 Aug 2023, 11:33 am AEST

How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

Just to clear anything up, no I'm not s***idal. But I have been in the past.

Whenever I've talked about it with a partner or close friend one of 2 things happen:

1. They get weirded out and avoid you.

2. They panic and get extraordinarily stressed.

If I talk about it with a professional they either:

1. Call the emergency services on you and you get locked up (first time this happened the therapist suddenly jumped up mid-conversation and said she had to move her car to avoid a parking ticket - it was a lie. She went out and called emergency services).

2. End the sessions, saying the problem is too big for them.

I know we are all told to talk about this (I mean, R U OK Day is coming up and everything), but how do you actually do it openly, clearly and in a more "relaxed" manner without adverse consequences, or fear of adverse consequences?

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In response to: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

Unknown userMember22 Aug 2023, 11:37 pm AEST

Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

Hi @Appleblossom she made a blanket covering comment about suicide thoughts as all encompassing. At that stage I had not had any SI for awhile. Her tone was pleasant but the words made my skin crawl and left me feeling uncomfortable about saying yes, if that had been the case. Decades ago my dad suffered a stroke that changed his behaviour from easy going to being verbally abusive and physically controlling. It was about 4 years after the initial stroke before he was seen by locum who talked my dad into voluntarily going into local psych centre and he had scans that found the brain damage. My memories of the various times my dad was in that psych centre are not the nicest memories. Her words plus the thought of me possibly being admitted to psych centre has left me feeling wary and uncertain about wanting to discuss my SI thoughts with her.

due to my therapist having some leave, my next session will be 4 weeks after the last session. After 2nd session she talked about unpacking each event and helping me to deal with each one. 3rd session we spent talking about how I had been during the previous 2weeks and why I was feeling upset on the day I saw her.

In response to: Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

AppleblossomSenior Contributor22 Aug 2023, 11:57 pm AEST

Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

https://discharged.asn.au

https://alt2su-nsw.net/support-groups/

https://www.lelan.org.au/alt2su/

here are some links with different attitude to suicide

In response to: Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

AppleblossomSenior Contributor23 Aug 2023, 12:16 am AEST

Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

@Former-Member

It is really difficult seeing a parent in a psych ward.

We are vulnerable and the person who is supposed to protect us, is unable to, and suffering.

It sounds as if you have managed to avoid it for yourself, and would prefer to keep it that way.

I really hope the work you do with the therapist (any therapist) is worthwhile. I am not sure how many sessions it would take to unpack all those experiences, but at some point, maybe you could raise with them the difficulty you had hearing their statement in the first session.

No easy way through all this, but hope it is worth the fight.

In response to: Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

Unknown userMember23 Aug 2023, 12:38 am AEST

Re: How are we meant to talk about the 's' word?

Thanks @Appleblossom

Based on number of events on timeline I have brief gone through with my current therapist I feel it is going to take some time to gradually work through them all.

maybe once I’ve been seeing same therapist for awhile and established a better rapport I may feel comfortable to approach the information she mentioned in session 1

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