I dunno 'bout college profs, but as a health care professional, I am required by law to report this and complaints of abuse or signs of suspected abuse. From the OP, it sounds like he is required to report this.
Sounds to me like this friend of catsix didn’t want help and found his own way out. Sucks, to be sure, that his actions are not the arbiter of everyone’s.
So… what’re you saying here? If no one had tried to get him help in the first place, he wouldn’t have killed himself later?
:dubious:
Jeebus-I cannot type. That should read BUT his actions are not the arbiter of everyone else’s…
It must be hard to be catsix sometimes. Did not anyone catch that ‘help’ in quotation marks means the intervention in his suicide wasn’t wanted so he offed himself the second time by giving no one any warning?
A word of advice from an anonymous stranger on the internet (take it for what you will): For the love of God, do NOT take her word on that. If you’re worried about being involuntarily comitted (where “involuntarily comitted” INCLUDES a temporary psych hold), find an objective source of information–maybe see if your area has a legal advice line and give them a call, or get a 30-minute consult with a lawyer.
Ignoring it will make it go away!
Besides, even in people who make clear suicide attempts, it’s virtually impossible to do what you describe - let alone people who don’t need it. There’s no money to pay to protect the public from crazies, no matter how much of a danger they are to themselves or others.
So no, catsix, he couldn’t end up involuntarily committed.
A student joking about suicide is as stupid as an airline passenger joking about having a bomb. It’s not done, and when it is done, action is taken because the consequence of inaction is too great. This student should know this by now (and if not, she sure as hell will soon) and either learn a lesson or get help for a mental health issue.
What if she runs for office? Give me a break. Talk about grasping at straws for the sake of argument. What if she wants to be an astronaut? Now they won’t let her in to Spacecamp!
Seige’s therapist is pretty much correct. My job used to be voluntarily and involuntarily committing people. We’d go through the huge song-and-dance in the ER to get a sucidal person accepted at a hospital, arrange transport, get them to the hospital, and the hospital would do its own eval, pronounce the person magically cured (something about that car ride, I guess) and send them on their way. I had numerous patients actually beat their transport driver back to town. Even the ones that were held by the hospitals were only kept 72 hours, then released. One patient I had came in every single Friday between 7-10pm claiming to be suicidal, got ROYALLY PISSED when every week we’d 1013 (involuntarily commit) him to a local hospital, and would be discharged from the hospital by Monday or Tuesday, then back to see me Friday night.
Also, what Eleanor Rigby said… in most states, teachers/teachers aides/school employees are required by law to report any threat of physical harm to the proper campus authorities. So before you go swiping at Humanist, realise that s/he was just doing their job.
Okay, more clarification.
Point 1: My best friend since high school has attempted suicide twice. Neither time did I have any warning. It’s very possible that this has affected my judgement re: suicide, but based on his two very serious attempts, my tendency will continue to be to treat any signs that suggest these possibilities seriously.
Point 2: I have next to no insight when it comes to determining someone’s actual emotional state. Some searching under my name here will make this very clear in a brief amount of time. My judgement as to how people act and feel simply cannot be relied upon. I thought she was probably joking. Did she say it in a joking or sarcastic manner? I can’t say, because these things are, put simply, outside of my perception. That’s why, when I don’t know for sure, I follow policy. In this case, I didn’t know for sure. She said it kind of softly and to herself. I looked at the other tutor and he didn’t seem to have heard. Did she mumble it just loud enough for me to hear on purpose, hoping to get a dry chuckle out of me? Did she mean to say it so that only she could hear it? I don’t know and have no way to tell. I do know that part of the work-study agreement I signed when I began as a tutor is pretty explicit about “intent to harm” and that I did my job as properly today as I did any other day.
I don’t believe this is true. First of all, when you go an extensive background check on someone, you can’t get the medical records unless that person signs off on it. I had a scary stalker guy once and he did a background on me but wasn’t able to get my medical records despite his best efforts.
Secondly, I remember when Clinton was running against Bob Dole that he had not released his medical records to the public. The Republicans were trying to force him to do so. I don’t remember if he ever released them or not, but if someone can get to that stage in the race and not have to reveal their medical records, than I doubt that a girl running for something smaller would gather that much attention.
Finally, I don’t think it would go on her records at all.
I wasn’t swiping at Humanist, nor was I going to. I think they did the right thing by reporting it, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t put words in my mouth like that.
I was simply telling Seige that psychiatrists/psychologists aren’t always truthful when they discuss involuntarily commitment, and that I’d get someone elses advice on it if I was in her shoes. One person’s “only kept 72 hours” is “3 long days of being held against their will in an environment that can often do more harm then good” for others. “Sorry I missed the interview, I was on a 3-day hold in a psychiatric ward” isn’t going to impress a potential employer. YMMV, your experiences may differ, reasonable people may disagree, etc. I’m not going to hijack thread anymore and discuss it further.
He said he’s a tutor. That doesn’t sound like professor to me.
He wanted to die, and eventually figured out what it took to make that happen.
I don’t believe in forcing someone to live against their will.
He’d still have done it. It just would’ve happened sooner than later.
Because people jam their noses into someone’s business. A joke about suicide is not the same as a joke about a bomb on an airplane. Suicide doesn’t typically kill hundreds of others.
I don’t think Humanist should’ve said anything to anybody. It doesn’t much matter to me that he was ‘doing his job’, since I find such a requirement to be an absurd over-sensitivity.
Many people who work with children in any major capacity are mandated reporters. This includes Girl Scout leaders, math tutors, school teachers, pediatricians, school nurses and lunch ladies.
I don’t know where Humanist lives or what the laws are there, but where I live, if I had any inkling that a child was in danger and I didn’t report it, I could be held partly responsible. Say for instance the kid attempted suicide and it came out in counseling - “I told my Girl Scout leader I wanted to kill myself.” This applies to suspected abuse, too. If I noticed bruises on a child and later it came out that I had seen the bruises and did not report, I would be in hot water.
If this is a child, then why the mention of ‘college suicides’?
Seems to me this college student is an adult.
Anecdotal evidence that agrees with that statment (except I’m in Alabama instead):
My mother was chronically depressed. She had tried to kill herself on more than one occasion. After the third try (I think-- it may have only been the second), a psychiatrist had a meeting with my sister (who doesn’t live in Alabama, so this was a special trip) and myself. There may have been some other official-type people there. We all agreed that it was in her best interest to have her committed (involuntarily), since she was going to continue to cause herself harm. When I left the meeting, I thought it was over, that she was now going to be committed.
And then later, my mother left the hospital and went home. And she was never committed.
And then, months later, she successfully killed herself.
Then what on earth is the problem with trying to help?
It wasn’t his will to be forced to remain alive. The problem is that his free will was taken from him, and I don’t believe in doing that.
The inside of catsix’s mind is just about the scariest place I can imagine.
Well, there you are then.
But that premise does not hold true for all people who may attempt suicide.
IMO, the OP did the right thing. Who knows what this girl intended? Maybe this provides the help she needs, but was scared to pursue. Maybe this now becomes a huge PIA for her. Either way, she’s better off-first case scenario, she gets help. Second case, she learns not to joke around about serious stuff. She does indeed sound immature-no matter her chronoligical age.
I don’t think she’s better off just because someone decided that she needs help.
That’s her business, and only hers. It is not for other people to decide what she needs.