I should imagine that one of the worst things for a person contemplating suicide is the feeling that few people understand or even care. Someone in this position is often extremely frustrated after talking with relatives and friends after hearing them say things like: You’ll feel better soon, This feeling is bound to pass, Find a job, Go out and get a life. The depressed person probably feels as if he/she has been talking about pain in vain; as though nobody can hear his/her loud cries for help. What is truly needed is something to help that person stop feeling invisible.
I did hear somebody say the following to a relative in a psychiatric hospital: Are you thinking of ending your life? How are you planning to do it? To me it seemed counter-intuitive to even consider using that kind of language and I wondered how the ill person must have felt on hearing those words. But, a psychiatrist once explained that maybe, only maybe that person had felt some kind of relief, because at last, somebody had heard what she/he had been saying – heard loud and clear and reaacted.
Something to think about …
