Every show with a suicide now has a disclaimer with a suicide hotline at the beginning. Is there any evidence that these warnings make a positive difference?
Every show with a suicide now has a disclaimer with a suicide hotline at the beginning. Is there any evidence that these warnings make a positive difference?
Based on what I've heard about the US's 988, it may rather be negative.
Oh, you're thinking of killing yourself, let us reinforce that by being absolutely rude, or better yet, time to get taken away by cops into a psych ward.
Let's see what's out there with some example (Reddit)
Summary: Person called 988, police showed up 90 minutes later, got taken for mandatory psychological evaluation, forced to stay 2 days in ER, ended up getting billed $6,470.
I think this kind of anecdotal horror story exists in every country, but of course it's not the usual outcome.
There's a whole chain of people involved in a process like this, and I have a hard time believing that everyone in that chain routinely locks up healthy people just to give themselves more work to do.
I think it's far more likely that there are many people who genuinely should spend a few days in a psych ward but are unable to due to a lack of resources.
People are there because their lives suck. Traumatizing them and putting them in debt just makes the suffering worse. Putting them through this process DOES NOT help them.
For a lot of people who are suicidal, a psych ward is precisely the right place for them. There are appropriately trained people to develop a treatment plan, and appropriate facilities to prevent a suicidal person from harming themselves.
I absolutely acknowledge that being taken to a psych ward against your will is going to be traumatic for anyone. I also acknowledge that in some cases the patient might end up feeling worse than they did before they went.
However, I'm certain that you can acknowledge that taking someone to a psych ward against their will is often the only way to prevent them harming themselves.
You lose the ability to refuse treatments in any scenario the emergency responders / doctors deem you unfit to make a decision in the best interest of your/someone else health. It's why "baker acting" in Florida is so controversial. Taking someone against their will and locking them in a facility for a minimum time without any real need of evidence.
Someone calling and telling them you said you were going to kill yourself is often all the evidence they need to start the process, whether you really said that is up to the emergency responders. For my friend that was 9 cop cars in the middle of the night. They dragged him out of bed at 4am because his partner at the time said he hadn't been responding to her texts and she told them he was depressed so he might kill himself.
Once he got out he told me about it all and I'm fairly certain he won't ever sleep with his phone on silent/vibrate again. (He broke up with them immediately after, but that has nothing to do with consent)
Sidenote: You also have to remember that they have to detain and hold you before diagnosing you, so they may not "force treatment" so much as hold you for 72 hours without any charges against you. Release if no charges, or detain if qualify to be held involuntarily.