How to be honest with psychiatrist? (TW Suicide)

[Burgerexplosion]

I have plans for suicide but it is proving impossible to be honest with my psychiatrist about it without him panicking and threatening to get me sectioned.

I desperately want help and to be able to trust my psychiatrist and therapist and it would be a relief to talk about how I feel but it is a no win situation as I don’t want to be locked up.

I’ve just spent a whole session trying to convince my therapist that I am not suicidal while hoping that she will realise how bad I feel and help me in some way.

I’m wondering if anyone else is in the same situation as me and if there is a solution I haven’t thought of?

Please be gentle as I am struggling enough already.

Your therapist sounds nice & caring & if your psychiatrist is like mine he will have heard it all before and won't panic. He will be professional. Make the most of your appointments with your psychiatrist as it's hard to get regular appointments; tell him the truth and be open with him. That way you will get the help you need.

I'm really sorry to hear that you feel suicidal though. It's not a good way to feel as I know. I hope once you confide in these healthcare professionals they will help you with therapy & or meds & you may start to recover. x

Thanks @lookingforMolly, I realise that I am lucky to be getting this support (albeit privately) but I can’t be honest without there being unacceptable consequences.

Psychiatrists do not panic. Nor do they section people for saying they are suicidal.
occasionally mental health workers may detain someone with a section, but it is not an automatic reaction to someone saying they are suicidal.

Sorry meant to say: it's extremely hard to get sectioned. I've admitted to feeling suicidal lots of times, to hearing voices, to having intrusive thoughts telling me to harm particular individuals (which I had to fight against which was not nice), to hallucinations etc etc and not been sectioned.

I have been sectioned before and he knows how scared I am of it happening again.

I agree with the above - please tell them. They won’t panic. They will make a plan to keep you safe. You can get better, but you need help. If it’s hard to say, maybe write it down? All the best to you.

Maybe he is just threatening it to get me to comply with medication and other stuff but I am scared as I’ve had bad experiences when I was sectioned before.

Most recently I told the duty worker on the phone Ive been feeling suicidal & unwell due to my mums recent passing and he was like oh ok. No advice or help given. Definitely not threatened with a section.
So while I can't promise that you won't get sectioned.. I can honestly say it's not very likely based on my experiences.

I’m so sorry for your loss @lookingforMolly and for the lack of support you got when you reached out for help.

Are you getting any support now? It seems that NHS mental health services are shockingly shite.

I’ve just spent a whole session trying to convince my therapist that I am not suicidal while hoping that she will realise how bad I feel and help me in some way.

I understand you feel like you’re in a no win situation @Burgerexplosion, but I think you aren’t going to get the help you’re crying out for unless you make the brave step of voicing how you feel.

You know the MH system better than I do - do you think if you are calm and rational and say you will comply with whatever they suggest as long as it isn’t a section, they would support you with that?

You should definitely try medication- I can recommend Venlafaxine for example as I was extremely depressed before I took that.
Although I do get low now as I'm grieving, I would have died a few years ago if it wasn't for the meds. I also take anti psychotics & anti epileptics.

The side effects of all medications are annoying but you have to try to work through them, most of them are temporary.
I wouldn't be able to actually function if I didn't take meds.
The thing is that mental illness is usually due to a lack of or disturbance in the chemicals in the brain, and the medications help to improve things. If one doesn't work you have to try another one.
Hold in there and try.

@Burgerexplosion thanks, I'm not getting any real support at the moment regarding my loss, just usual access to a quick chat with the duty worker via the telephone.
He's told me to contact a bereavement charity for counselling but they don't understand mental illness.
It's ok.

Thank you @Jellycats4life, I think you are right.

I am wasting everyone’s time pretending to be OK so I need to try to be honest.

Are you able to keep yourself safe/ not act on suicidal thoughts for 12-24 hours? If so, home treatment would be indicated rather than an admission. If you’re actively taking steps to keep yourself safe (seeking help, trying out coping strategies, taking medication) and not At IMMEDIATE risk, it’s highly unlikely admission would be recommended. Let the psychiatrist know how you feel, but be clear about the fact you’re trying to take other options rather than end your life

I’m really sorry to hear that.
Have you tried getting help from a private therapist as the NHS isn’t working?

Yes, definitely keeping myself safe at the moment but life feels pretty pointless so plans in place.

Hello OP, we are really sorry to hear you are feeling this way.
We hope you don't mind, but when these threads are flagged up to us we usually add a link to our Mental Health resources: www.mumsnet.com/webguide/mental-health. You can also go to the Samaritans website https://www.samaritans.org/ or email them on [email protected]. Support from other Mumsnetters is great and we really hope you will be able to take some comfort from your fellow posters, but as other MNers will tell you, it's really a good idea to seek RL help and support as well.
We also like to remind everyone that, although we're awed daily by the astonishing support our members give each other through life's trickier twists and turns, we'd always caution anyone never to give more of themselves to another poster, emotionally or financially, than they can afford to spare.

My sister was suicidal and opted for voluntary section and admission to a MH ward.

It really helped her - the fact that it was voluntary and HER choice made her feel in control of what was happening and she was in control of the decision to leave if she needed ( and she chose not to leave until she felt ready).
She got the help she desperately needed on her own terms.

She was, on one occasion sectioned by doctors and she absolutely hated the fact that they had taken away her control and fought to get it overturned. She did so, with family help and it made such a difference to the way she felt about being on a MH unit.

Would a voluntary section help at all to get you the help you want?

My psychiatrist has known I'm suicidal before (and confiscated the means to do it). He's never threatened to get me sectioned. He did insist on involving my DH and we discussed a voluntary admission to hospital but it wasn't needed in the end. The only way you can realistically get help is by being honest about how you're feeling. Your psychiatrist will have heard it all before and can't just 'section ' you, I promise.

If it's any consolation OP they are very unlikely to section you even if you are suicidal. There are lots of other steps (e.g. home crisis team) they will try before that, their main thrust these days is keeping people in the community as much as possible. I hope that helps reassure you.

Mainly though you need to trust your psychiatrist to assess you accurately and find the right help that you need at the time. Maybe that is a hospital. Maybe it's home care. They will be best placed to help.

Thanks @ilovemyspace, I’m glad your sister got the help she needed.

I did go into an NHS hospital voluntarily once but then I was sectioned when I tried to leave. That made me go more crazy because I was being held against my will.

If you express suicidal ideation MH professionals should do a risk assessment and explore grouse ideas and assess the actual risk of you harming yourself. If they feel you are at serious risk of harming yourself they would ask for an assessment by two psychiatrists who are qualified to assess for section and they again explore it with you in a interview and only if at the end of that if you said you were going to harm yourself would they implement a section.

@Burgerexplosion I'm sorry that life seems pointless to you right now, it won't always feel like that in the future so you've got to hold on to that thought..

Thanks @pinguins that is reassuring.

I did tell him I won’t engage with the crisis team but he said I wouldn’t have any choice. Is that just an idle threat to get me to comply re. medication?

Yes, I went through that process when I was sectioned before but I felt that the second psychiatrist and the GP just rubber stamped the decision of my psychiatrist (different one to now though)