What the hell does that have to do with mental illness? If a bike rider slams into a tree should you help him? If his thigh bone is visible and he’s bleeding from the ear but he says “I’m fine” do you leave him to his own devices?
So depressed a person shits the bed and won’t get up to eat is not a population norm.
We agree here. But it might be an individual norm.
Not to be cynical. But if he says “I’m fine” I likely will not help him.
I’ve been fortunate enough to experience/be prone to a type of depression that predominately doesn’t include the suicidal ideation part. The closest I’ve ever been to that, I would describe as a moment of being so bored with life and being awake that I wished that I was just unconscious. If I felt like that everday…well, let’s just say that I would understand the desperation of the people that do experience suicidal ideation.
W.r.t guns, given the option, I would choose to not have one around that is accessible to myself. Not because I think I would use it, but because I cannot guarantee the person I am today is who I will be tomorrow, or know how I will react to stimulus that I haven’t yet experienced in my life. That’s not to say that I don’t trust myself, as I do. I just cannot predict the future.
W.r.t the “normal” state - I have one. It’s one of the defining characteristics of Bipolarism that you have a normal state to compare back to. But that normal state isn’t itself compared to what other “normal” people say and do - it’s a steady, less intense emotional state. Not every mental illness neccessates irrational thoughts and actions, some are mood disorders like mine.
tangent: at least give 911 a call. location, incident, tell them you don’t want to get involved. hang up. He can then tell them he’s fine.
You should not try to force help on someone who declines it, no. You can be sued for that. You SHOULD call 911 and let professionals evaluate the situation.
And that is my approach when it comes to mental illness as well.
Less the forced calling the professionals on them part. That’s just a cop out way of forcing your help on them.
So would you be fine with one of your elderly relatives who has dementia getting lost outside, wandering around in sub-zero temperatures, refusing help when offered, and consequently freezing to death? Would you personally go thank all the people who ignored them, for not overstepping?
sigh
You always ask permission. Emergency response professionals ask permission. If a person is unconscious in an emergency the law assumes they want to live which implies they give permission since unconscious in a medical emergency is often life threatening. This is fundamental to a successful emergency response system. Having a successful emergency response system is beneficial to society.
You do not have to help (it may be a misdemeanor in some states). You can walk away. You do not have to call 911. It is your choice. It is better for society, just like wearing a mask during a pandemic, if everyone does at least the minimum of calling 911.
No, I won’t. But I’m doing it for me, not really because for them.
Most of the time, we don’t want people close to us to commit suicide, because WE don’t want to feel the pain. It’s completely selfish.
Aside: Yeah, MY post got flagged.
It’s what my retirement is hopefully going to look like.
Added, this is a disturbing thread.
Please do not discuss moderation.
That sounds like the Republican position on gun control.
:rimshot:
10 dead. The shooter is 18, white, … taken alive, naturally. Wore tactical gear which meant attempts to subdue the shooter by a “good guy with a gun” - a security guard who was a retired police officer - were useless, as would have been anyone else’s attempts to take the shooter out.
It’s OK, though. Republicans - especially ones like Elise Stefanik, who spent last week bloviating about CRT and illegal immigrants taking over America and so on - completely “back the blue” and are all about “law and order” and so on, and if we’d just had more good people with guns, this could have been prevented. If they can be bothered to muster up even that much energy. Probably still too soon to talk about it.
Probably still too soon to talk about Boulder, too. Or Parkland. Or Sandy Hook.
Some Republican idiot lawmaker here in AZ is already calling it a false flag.
Excellent question. You mentioned 16 year-olds above. Clearly not old enough, we don’t even let them commit to borrowing and repaying money.
Most of their lives are ahead of them. Life has ups and downs. It’s easier to overreact to a down when you don’t have a lot of perspective. There’s a better chance that mental health care might help if your brain is still maturing.
But, what about 65? Most of your life is in the past. We know about ups and downs. A judgement that “it looks like all downs from here forward” is more likely to be accurate.
I’ve read that in states with Death with Dignity laws, very few people actually use them. But, I’ve also considered a catch-22. By the time people are so far gone that they qualify physically under those laws, they are no longer mentally able to make the choice.
I’d like to believe that if I’m over age __ , I could get some sort of suicide drug if I could convince a professional that I’m in sound-enough mind to measure my own future pain vs. future joy and determined there isn’t enough of the second to endure the first.
Everyone who’s under age X and above age Y should not be able to vote.
18 and 70 would be my lines…
Old people voting countries out of the EU, fighting taxes while protecting their entitlement programs… utterly selfish
Should we be actuarial about it on the high end and say life expectancy < y?