Go to The crazy lady strikes again
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A friend mentioned that distraction helped her ...
when she was going through counseling. She did deal with suicidal thoughts (and a few attempts). Sometimes getting a small reprieve from pain (emotional or physical) can give you the energy to rise above it. My friend would say to herself "Ok, you had a suicidal impulse, but you have to get this thing done first". She had a ready-made list of "things to do" that she knew would cheer her up a little, and she had to go through that list before she allowed herself to go back to thinking about suicide. We can't control how we feel, but we *can* control what we do about it. =) The first thing on her list included calling a hotline.
posted by
endomagazine
on December 7, 2004 at 5:57 AM
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I remember the name of the blogger who mentioned me
His "handle" is
InherentRights, and I wish I could remember the name of the blog he featured me in.
posted by
kidnykid
on August 13, 2004 at 6:32 AM
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Kidnykid, I just wanted to drop a line because your problem was mentioned
in someone else's blog (gosh, why can't I remember the name?!). I suffer from depression too. I too have suicidal thoughts at times. The trouble is, I don't know what to say to help. I have only had the time to read a few of your entries -- I will read more later for sure! Right now, I have to get ready for work -- YUCK! Oh well, today is payday (HAPPY FACE!).
Look, here's what helps me when I am in a particularly dark mood: humor. Humor is a wonderful medicine, although of course it alone is insufficient. That is, it doesn't solve life's serious problems, but it does give a much-needed distraction, reprieve, and it feels so good. You can stop, think of something funny or watch or read something funny if you're too depressed to create your own humor, and have a good long laugh. Then, when you feel slightly better because of your laugh, tackle the serious problems. I think it's great that you are getting professional help.
But for your own part, there are things that might temper suicidal impulses between therapy sessions. I imagined myself talking to my alter-ego, who I think of as sort of a big brother, and telling him of my suicidal thoughts and despair. Instead of giving the usual patronizing response, such as, "Oh, don't do that. We love you. You don't have to kill yourself; you can get treated, blah blah blah," very well-intentioned but downright trite and unhelpful to a despairing person, I had him say: "OK, you can think about killing yourself if you want to. But right now, before you do that, why don't we order a PIZZA?" My alter-ego big brother knows I love pizza! I laughed hard, and so did he, at the suggestion. The suggestion itself was not particularly humorous, of course -- ordinarily it would be a mundane response to the question, "What are we eatin' for dinner tonight?" But in the midst of a deep and painful discussion about life and death, here comes along big brother talking about PIZZA! It wasn't because he doesn't care -- it's because he DOES care, and he's trying to cheer me up with a little humor and simple pleasure. I felt better after that exchange.
posted by
Dyl_Pickle
on August 13, 2004 at 3:34 AM
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