Suicide threat, distressed poster

[picklemepopcorn]

In chat, just posted.

If the OP of that thread reads this PLEASE pm me as I can't bear to think of you struggling. I don't have the right words other than to encourage you to seek help. Maybe start a thread in mental health for folk just to chat and hold your hand.

Heavy handed call mnhq you've fucked up

I think for me, I don’t care if 1 in every hundred of these are genuine. If that one person stops and talks rather than sees a message saying sorry we don’t allow these messages call x, and we can keep them talking, even if it’s till morning, then it’s a life saved. And that’s worth putting up with all the other trolls.

I feel sad for this girl i was typing my support. Did anyone catch her name to send her a message

well meaning but not helpful at all

And there we have it folks. The one person who has proved mumsnet right, the person who attacks instead of supports.

Slow hand clap running.

I think for me, I don’t care if 1 in every hundred of these are genuine

What if the 99 100 threads (99 of which are trolls) trigger suicidal / thoughts / plan in readers?

I didn't see the thread, but am sure I have seen suicidal threads left to stand here in the past, particularly on the Mental Health board.

What's changed?

It is absolutely right that those threads get deleted. They are not always genuine but always disturbing.

We are not qualified to get them right.

If that one person stops and talks rather than sees a message saying sorry we don’t allow these messages call x, and we can keep them talking, even if it’s till morning, then it’s a life saved.

This is what’s so worrying. “We can keep them talking” referring to unqualified posters who really want to help but are hindering the op from seeking real life help and often posting things that will make them feel even more in despair.

What's changed?

MNHQ took some advice from charities with (generally) a lot more expertise than posters on here.

This makes me so so sad. There has been so much talk recently of raising awareness of mental health and suicide, and so much advice to people to just talk to those in distress. There was a post on here just the other day about an ad that people felt simplified the issue - the point of the ad was to encourage normal people to talk to people, that it might just make a difference.
The poster tonight reached out for help, who knows how much it might have meant to her to see that people - strangers in the internet, actually cared.
How heartbreaking to think she's been turned away :(

MN's policy was developed in consultation with MH charities, following several suicide-threatening threads that created hysteria on the boards and ended up with the original poster becoming overwhelmed with a tide of frantic posts and PMs. Plus several troll suicide threads. I know it feels brutal but I think it's the right policy.

How heartbreaking to think she's been turned away

She’s been turned towards people who can actually help her.

Mumsnet have sought advice from mental health charities and their policy is in line with that.

But everyone was asking her to seek real life help, they were saying to wake her partner. However in real life some folks don’t have support. And sometimes anonymity is better than actually talking to a real person.

It's right to get rid of those threads. Few if any of us on here are qualified to deal with that and there are too many trolls who would find it hilarious to push whatever buttons they can find.

Surely once the poster has been sign posted to the appropriate help it is better to delete the thread?

And sometimes anonymity is better than actually talking to a real person

Samaritans is anonymous and if you don't want to talk you can email or text. And the people responding will have had some sort of training.

I can understand the worry that it could upset others, or that some of the replies may not be helpful, but surely deleting the thread is also rather unsupportive?? I think the solution would be to hide the thread, and hand it over to an expert (e.g. Samaritans), so that they can contact and keep talking to the OP. I can't see that cutting the person off is the best thing for them :-(.

thankfully most understand why they can't remain

yes brats thats whats happened

As a mental health nurse I think it’s right these kind of posts are deleted. I would not feel skilled at de escalating suicidal ideation and compulsion over an Internet forum and people trying to do so may delay the poster in seeking professional help. That and the trauma it causes people reading the posts x

She turned to a place she felt most able to speak out about how she felt. If she doesn't feel able to turn to 'real life' options, it hasn't helped her to direct her to them and delete the thread that she may have gotten comfort from.

Someone who is suicidal is not rational by definition. A message saying sorry we can’t allow these threads call the samaratins is subjective on whether the response will be to actually call them, or whether it will make it worse.

For me, give help where ever you are. Never refuse it.

We dont know that shes getting help now do we. She could have done anything. I feel the amount of support she had was fab. We may not be experts but some of us have been where she is and at least she knew someone was there. Now no one there at all

LEM you've been here long enough to know that MNHQ have taken advice about how to deal with these threads. The policy to delete them was made a few years ago.

And some people take a ghoulish delight in others' misfortune. Rubberneckers.