Is it normal i feel suicide awareness week is patronizing to those wanting suicide?

78% Normal

At my school, there's a whole bunch of suicide awareness week stuff posted everywhere. It just sounds so patronizing and insulting. Notes and posters will say things like "You matter." Of course "you matter," what type of garbage thing is that to say to someone who feels like they don't matter? "You aren't alone." Of course not, but I don't see anything that actually means anything to anyone. The only things they have to say are overly generic statements that probably mean nothing to those who are contemplating suicide.

Voting Results

78% Normal

Based on 27 votes (21 yes)

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Comments ( 37 )

RoseIsabella

4 years ago

I think this is a very complicated issue.

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- litelander8
  
  4 years ago
  
  I agree.
  
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  - RoseIsabella
    
    4 years ago
    
    Thanks.
    
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    - Anonymous Post Author
      
      4 years ago
      
      I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
      
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      - perfectxsilence
        
        4 years ago
        
        That one is the absolute worst. I've only seen it a few times but it angers me to no end
        
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      - RoseIsabella
        
        4 years ago
        
        Amen to that!
        
        Depression is not a choice. I wish I had a dollar for all the stupid people who don't know shit about depression, suicide, and or mental health in general. There are so many ignorant ass armchair therapists who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground, hold no academic degrees, and have never stepped foot in a college level psychology class, but insist that they know better than the professionals, and the patients who suffer with deep depression. There are too many idiots out there who continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about people who live with depression, and are contemplating suicide.
        
        Like I said I wish I had a dollar for every moron, I'd be a very rich woman!
        
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raisinbran

4 years ago

None of this suicide awareness stuff has helped anyone, ever. The people who make the signs and set up the hotlines don't have a clue.

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- Grunewald
  
  4 years ago
  
  I don't want to invalidate your own experience, but do you really know that nobody was ever helped?
  
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TerriAngel

4 years ago

Ive been there.
Im not there now, but.
Ive been there.
Those posters are a joke, so are the 1-800 #s or councelers.
My opinion, it should be legal, and safe.
So, lets say someone feels that way.
They should be allowed to go to a hospital and register.
You fill out forms, answer questions and youre put on a 2 week waiting list.
If you come back in 2 weeks and still feel the same way.
You are done.
Your body parts and fluids are harvested, the left overs are turned to fertilizer.
To some this sounds rash.
But, if a person is going to die anyway.
Doesnt it make more sence that their passing could help others?
The person who needs a heart transplant.
kidney, lung, bone marrow etc.
Or is your humane option to just have them jump from a bridge?

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
  
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  - Grunewald
    
    4 years ago
    
    Could you stop repeating the same post please? It's getting annoying...
    
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    - Anonymous Post Author
      
      4 years ago
      
      I've only posted about this topic once. The copy/pasted replies are because by the time I remembered the phrase "choose happy," it was too late for me to edit the post, and I actually wanted to know people's reactions to the phrase "choose happy," so I didn't just add a seperate comment, as most people already saw the post. You're the only one annoyed by it, anyway. You should be interested in seeing how others react to it.
      
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      - Grunewald
        
        4 years ago
        
        Why the defensive? You're anonymous.
        
        I'm glad that IIN is a place where I don't have to worry about what other people think I should be annoyed by/interested in.
        
        Logically though (and here I'm being a stickler for the sake of winding you up), there's no reason why I can't be annoyed by your repeat comment and interested in other people's replies at at the same time.
        
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Boojum

4 years ago

If you've never been suicidal, then I'd suggest that you can't really say for sure if those messages mean anything to someone who is. Even if you have been in that state and even if they didn't get through to you, then that just speaks to your own individual experience.

I do agree that messages like that alone probably aren't going to stop anyone killing themselves, but you're talking about Suicide Awareness Week, not Suicide Prevention Week, and it would appear that they have at the very least made one person think about the issues.

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- Sleepykitten
  
  4 years ago
  
  I've struggled on and off with depression and suicidal ideation and both the hotlines and the awareness campaigns are ineffective piss-offs. Its not just me that feels that way but most of the other suicidal people I've talked to. Most suicide activism is done by people who have never been suicidal and don't really understand what they're doing.
  
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- d0esnormalmatter
  
  4 years ago
  
  What do you think about the possibility that this type of awareness will just give kids ideas? That would be my concern.
  
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  - Boojum
    
    4 years ago
    
    I see your point, but I think that's unlikely.
    
    One of my most cringe-inducing memories from when I was ten or so is of threatening my mother that I was going to kill myself over some incredibly trivial shit that I can't even recall now. And I was a kid in a loving and stable family who never watched TV and so wasn't exposed to even the relatively tame levels of violence and psychodrama that were allowed in the sixties (and obviously, this is decades before the invention of the internet). I have no idea where the thought came from, but most kids learn the definition of suicide fairly young, and it's such a powerful concept that it's something that can't be unlearned.
    
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    - d0esnormalmatter
      
      4 years ago
      
      Yeah that's cringy. I remember doing shit like that all the time to lol. My mom would come after me for having missing assignments in school and I would talk about killing myself or just saying how much I hated her over and over again. Silly DNM.
      
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      - Anonymous Post Author
        
        4 years ago
        
        I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
        
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        Boojum
        
        4 years ago
        
        I agree that's trite, and it's no more helpful than telling someone who's having an epileptic seizure to stop jerking around and get up off the floor.
        
        That's actually a pretty good analogy, because it does seem that there are physical differences in the brains of people who are prone to depression compared to those who aren't. It's not the whole story, and psychosocial influences (how people perceive the world and the setting they live in) play a big role too, but telling someone who's so depressed that they're considering suicide that they should get over themselves, slap a smile on their face and be happy is pretty damn stupid.
        
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        d0esnormalmatter
        
        4 years ago
        
        Da fuck does that even mean? I agree with you OP this shit at your school sounds dumb and cringy AF.
        
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  - raisinbran
    
    4 years ago
    
    Hey kids, do you know about suicide? Read this pamphlet to learn more about something you shouldn't do.
    
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    - d0esnormalmatter
      
      4 years ago
      
      Yep. Younger kids might not really think of it as an option until this stupid shit comes along.
      
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Pumpurrnickel

4 years ago

I agree, suicide awareness activists are largely useless. Constantly hearing overused, stupid cliches like "It gets better, you're not alone," etc. often just serves to alienate suicidal people even more, even encourage some. And then there's the argument that suicide prevention is pro-suffering, and that people who are tired of life and have no more will left to search for happiness should be provided an effective, painless exit, instead of forced to endure living or resort to more drastic methods.

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- Boojum
  
  4 years ago
  
  I agree with the latter part of your comment - with certain qualifications.
  
  To take the extremes: It seems to me there's a huge difference between an eighty-year-old person who has no living family and is terminally and painfully ill, and a fourteen-year-old who's being hammered by hormones, going to school with a bunch of sadistic little shits who have recognised an easy target and teachers who don't give a damn, and then goes home to parents who clearly would have much preferred that he had never been born at all.
  
  The fact is that it does get better for most people. It's also the case that few people really need to be alone if they don't want to be. For those who find it impossible to form any sort of bond with others, it's possible to learn how to accept being alone in the world and to enjoy the freedom that brings.
  
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  - TheMightyOz
    
    4 years ago
    
    But this is only a partial answer, because it doesn't get better for some people. Yes, I could enjoy freedom, but I will never have the freedom to fuck a hooker. As you know, I have a rubber tube up my cock. Suicide Awareness? How about awareness that you were damned by God before you were born to live in hell as a eunuch.
    
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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
  
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bogbrush

4 years ago

They always state the bleedin obvious.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
  
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ellnell

4 years ago

Then what are they supposed to do??? They can't put up personalized messages to certain individuals all over the school so of course they'll be generic but it's better than nothing, no? It's the responsibility of those close to the suicidial people to tell them things that actually makes them feel like they matter.

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- Sleepykitten
  
  4 years ago
  
  It's worse than nothing. It's alienating for a suicidal person to see and it gives other people the idea that these are helpful and caring things to say to a suicidal person. A lot of times when people ask the people close to them for help, they get these same cliches repeated back to them.
  
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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
  
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BleedingPain

4 years ago

Its a touchy subject. I think it is important to make people aware and supportive, but the way we do it with generic phrases and dumb support groups is dumb. I want help, but not from randoms who dont know me. I want support from friends and family.

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litelander8

4 years ago

Id be MIFFED if anyone I loved died, and I could've done something more to stop it. A walk, or charity is the least anyone can do.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I just remembered a quote from one of the posters: "Choose happy." That is one of most stupid things someone could tell a person with depression.
  
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  - litelander8
    
    4 years ago
    
    We're humans. Things spark joy, but everlasting happiness is unobtainable. It is what it is.
    
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    - bogbrush
      
      4 years ago
      
      Very true litelander8. It's up and down until we die. I think we need to be realistic and teach stoicism but deep compassion for someone that's depressed. A suicidal person should be treated in the same way as someone with a broken leg, not told we can see you in 3 months. Social media make people think life is about looking good and having the latest whatever.
      
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