One more sales job on suicide prevention~

Wrong answer of can suicide be prevented

I was really hoping that the article on The Wall Street Journal would actually be helpful, but it turns out it is yet one more sales job on something that does not address the actual prevention step that has to be taken before anything else should be tried. 

Get the stigma out of the way of them finding hope again!

There are many different things that work, but none of them will work unless the person facing such hopelessness sees there is a better life ahead for them. They will not see it unless they understand what they have and why they have it. 

Especially with PTSD, but with all mental illnesses, people are afraid to open up. Imagine that! Being more afraid to open up and seek help than they are to plan the way to end it all. 

Had the "experts" been more effective at defeating the one thing that blocks them from even thinking about a better day ahead, then the number of suicides would not have gone up every year in this country instead of down.

How many more times do you need to read about one more sickening stunt in your area where people get together to have some fun while the subject is veterans committing suicide. Not hard to guess how little they do know when they cannot even get the "number" right or even bother to know much more than what they read in a headline.

Anyway, here is the link to The Wall Street article that misses way too much to bother posting it here. If you have been on Facebook lately, then you know how many are talking about this as well as how few are actually doing anything to help anyone. Besides preventing suicides requires communication skills on behalf of the one suffering as much as it does to the one asking the questions.

Can Suicide Be Prevented?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which helps patients communicate and handle their emotions, can be effective at reducing suicidal thoughts and attempts

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

Thank you WSCR-AM 670’s Dan McNeil

When a radio show host had the chance to remain silent about mental illness, he chose to #BreakTheSilence and confront the bully of his healing.

After over half my life has been consumed by PTSD and the efforts to help veterans to heal, getting them to overcome the stigma, has been the hardest thing to do. Someone decided that mental illness was something to be ashamed of, and that is the message they got.

This is for anyone with a mental illness, no matter what it is. No matter what it is caused by or what label it has been given. 

The truth is, there is no shame for you unless you put it there. Do you really care what other people think about you, more than what you think about yourself?

Mental illness is real and so is taking steps to live the best life possible by doing what is possible to living happier ever after!

Well this radio show guy just won one for all of you last night!

After 'dead pool' pick, radio host Dan McNeil shares mental health struggle: 'I must confess, this guy got to me'

Chicago Tribune
Phil Rosenthal
January 18, 2019

Sharing a vulnerability uncommon among sports radio hosts, WSCR-AM 670’s Dan McNeil laid himself bare in a post-midnight Facebook post Friday.

McNeil, 57, apparently was triggered by a text from a listener who informed him he had been selected in the listener’s so-called dead pool in which the deaths of those chosen score points weighted toward the decedent’s relative youth.

Despite initially seeming to laugh off the note as he might on the air — “Give the dude credit for a sound investment strategy; I’m a good ‘value pick’ in a pool like that” — McNeil responded with soulful ruminations on living with vices, mental health issues and suicide.

Then he shared the impact he imagined his death would have on his three grown sons.

“I must confess, this guy got to me,” McNeil wrote. “I even cried a few times. Daydreaming about my sons’ sadness over the void in their lives is an optic I’d just as soon avoid.

“What kind of human has so much contempt for a radio show, he wishes for — at the minimum, bets on — a guy’s death? So, hoping that guy is reading this — as I did on the air, hoping he was listening — I want him to quickly meet my sons, now bereaved by the loss of their dad.”
read more here

Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness

May 20, 2010
Watch Glenn Close’s Brilliant PSA
Dr. Jon LaPook Discusses
Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness


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PTSD:When ignorance is not bliss

When ignorance is not bliss
By Caterina Spinaris Tudor , Ph.D.
Published: 10/27/2008
Editor’s note: This story is being shared with us by Desert Waters Correctional Outreach. The non-profit organization and its newsletter, Correctional Oasis, are dedicated to the well being of correctional staff and their families.

Imagine this conversation.

Two correctional officers are chatting. One blurts out, “You wouldn’t believe what a wimp Pete turned out to be! He’s being treated for diabetes! I have no use for him anymore now that he’s on insulin!”

“I have no respect for him anymore either!” exclaims the other officer. “What a weakling! Why doesn’t he just get a grip? Dave is also a big loser. He was just diagnosed with skin cancer and high blood pressure. Can’t trust him with my back anymore!”

This exchange sounds totally ridiculous, doesn’t it? Now, replace the words “diabetes,” “skin cancer,” and “high blood pressure” with words such as “depression,” “panic attacks,” and “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Do the put-downs of correctional employees struggling with psychological conditions sound more justifiable than of those struggling with physical illnesses?

Sadly, if you believe so, you’re not alone. More times than I can count I have been told by corrections staff that to them admission of psychological turmoil equals weakness.

Repeatedly I have also heard staff share how ashamed they feel for not being able to “get over it,” not being “strong enough to pull themselves up by their bootstraps” when it comes to battling with the darkness of depression or the torment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Many have added that they would lose their coworkers’ respect and perhaps even jeopardize their chances for promotion if it became known that they were experiencing psychological difficulties. Consequently several corrections staff who need help decline recommendations to start psychotherapy or to be evaluated by their physicians for psychotropic medications.

Instead, some choose to self-medicate with alcohol or even illegal drugs, preferring to risk their health, career and family rather than to seek appropriate treatment. In some tragic cases the reluctance to seek pharmaceutical or psychological help has cost lives. Other staff keep existing in a “blue”zone, with diminished quality of life and chronic under- functioning.
go here for more
http://www.corrections.com/news/article/19842

Mental illness stresses families

Mental illness stresses families
By David Riley/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Sep 06, 2008 @ 11:27 PM
Editor's note: This is part 2 of a weekly series on the stigma of mental illness.

Mental illness cost Melissa almost everything she had, including custody of her 11-year-old daughter.

Living in and out of homeless shelters in Connecticut, she was ready to give up a year ago. It was her adult son who helped her find another chance at rebuilding her life in Massachusetts.

But not all of Melissa's family has been able or willing to maintain ties with her. Aside from a sister, Melissa said most of her relatives no longer speak to her.

Family, she said, also is where some of her struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress began.

"It's good to have a good upbringing," said Melissa, a client at Programs for People, a Framingham nonprofit that helps the mentally ill recover and succeed. "I didn't."

Melissa and three other clients at Programs for People spoke with the Daily News recently about their illnesses and recovery. They also discussed their firsthand experiences with misunderstanding, fear and suspicion of mental illness that they and others face in many aspects of their lives.

"I think the public, they don't understand mental illness, and they don't want to," Melissa said.

Melissa's story illustrates the complex role of family in mental illness. She believes her upbringing contributed to her disease, and family relationships have strained or broken during her battle. Yet it was also a son who helped point her toward recovery and a daughter who motivates her today.

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Battling stigma as well as mental illness

Battling stigma as well as mental illness

By David Riley/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Aug 30, 2008 @ 10:34 PM

If Cindy had a heart ailment, a doctor might have sat her down and walked her through her options for treatment.

Battling mental illness, she says she was locked in a state hospital and told by a staff member she would be lucky if she ever got out.

If she broke a bone, Cindy might have gotten a cast, crutches and a little patience at home.

Grappling with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress and substance abuse, her husband said she was lazy and her treatment was just "a vacation."

For decades, most health professionals have accepted that mental illnesses are legitimate, serious medical problems. But for many who suffer from them, they often remain a source of shame and ridicule, and for the public, a cause for fear, suspicion or misunderstanding.

"It's just slow for people to realize it's a real illness," said Iris Carroll, director of Programs for People, a Framingham agency that helps people to recover from mental illness and succeed. "I see it definitely changing, but not fast enough."

Four clients at Programs for People, who agreed to speak with the Daily News without giving their full names, say stigma against the mentally ill is alive and well in many aspects of their lives.

Mark, who was hit by a truck in December, says he believes his diagnosis with mental illness led a doctor not to take his wishes seriously and forego surgery he requested on his badly broken leg.

"I didn't have anybody to sign or advocate for me," Mark said.

For Melissa, her struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress cost her ties with most of her family and wreaked havoc with jobs.

"I feel like people don't understand," Melissa said. "I'm labeled like you should get it, or you should have known better, so snap out of it."

Cindy said she was called a "nutcase" when she called her son's school to iron out a problem with a teacher. She said she encountered bias within the mental health system itself, where her own goals often seemed an afterthought to some of the people treating her.

"We want guidance," said Cindy, "but we also want a voice."
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