to think these forms of self harm aren’t taken seriously

[busyweeks78]

I suffer with a mental health condition which means I often take overdoses. I’m always discharged home with little follow up. Aibu considering how dangerous this can be that they don’t put much support in place. This seems to vary from place to place though as I have a friend in another area who was sectioned for an overdose. Aibu to think that if people pose a significant risk that they should be sectioned? I’ve seen friends basically desperate to be admitted due to how unsafe they are.

Presumably if someone did really want to kill themselves they’d take enough of an overdose to achieve it and not repeated small overdoses?

@blue25 please STFU, I am sorry for your loss but your experience does not trump anyone else’s and you have no idea what a person is feeling at the point they start taking the overdose. I suggest you research impulsive suicide and try and act with a little more compassion so we can all do our bit to avoid people suffering.

I say this as an autistic person who’s tried to end their own life as a result of feeling utterly overwhelmed. It wasn’t attention seeking or a cry for help, I was just lucky. I personally know others in my shoes who have not been.

Comments like yours made it worse the next time and made me more likely to be more determined. A good friend who was labelled “attention seeking” went on to die through suicidal after numerous attempts.

I am “better” now but please don’t stick the knife in to those who are in distress.

I think it’s a very complex issue but anyone engaging in self harming behaviours should get help ASAP no matter what the reasoning behind it is

Is your friend really you? You've a number of threads on the subject including admitting regularly overdosing. Do you want to be sectioned?

Wrong thread.

perhaps consider that for people with some diagnoses 'less really is more'.

But too often the 'less' is in reality 'nothing', not because the person can't be helped but because mental health services don't have the capacity to help everyone who needs help.

And I take your point about providing support being detrimental to some people, but I've seen too many people who have never even had an assessment, they just get bounced back to their GP.

@UndertheCedartree

I really don't get this 'less is more'. If the person already has an inability to cope then dependance on others is not really the issue.

Some people, and I've met a couple, become over-reliant on staff, and will contact the service and the staff members until it becomes, essentially, harrassment and effects the wellbeing of staff and potentially interferes with the service being provided to other people - ie if they can't get through on the phone because the person is constantly phoning. If staff members try and step back from the person they can threaten self harm or suicide, or become threatening towards staff.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have seen this happen.

GroliffTheDragon I see where you are coming from but those of us who have done that (myself when in severe BPD/CPTSD crisis) are not doing it for kicks. It is motivated by deep distress. And when we eventually get someone who does give us support, it is often cut due to funding or because we are "getting too dependent on services."

UndertheCedarTree

as someone who has diagnosis of BPD/EUPD linked to complex trauma, I could not agree more. I would most likely not be here if not for DBT. It really is a life-changer. I spent too long (years) on the merry go ground of self harm, ODs, A and E admissions, either threatened with sectioning or be told to go home and stop wasting time.