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Apr 09, 2009, 01:27 AM
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Member Since: Jul 2008
Posts: 795
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emilyjeanne
Just a thought.....If you tell a provider that you feel suicidal then they are obligated to place you in protective custody. It is in your best interest. Maybe you need a different level of care. A residential program.
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It's not the simple. Feeling suicidal itself--saying you feel that way, doesn't get you committed. Plenty of people talk about their suicidal feelings. If you couldn’t do that at all you couldn't get therapy for suicidal feelings. I can’t even begin to count the number of sessions where I’ve talked about suicidal feelings. My partial hospitalization and day treatment programs ask each day if you feel suicidal, then if you feel safe and what your safety plan is.
The 2 things that need to be in place—in my state or similarly elsewhere I'm told--are 1. A specific plan to carry out--and the means—your suicide thoughts and 2. the intent to carry it out. If you tell your T you're going to do it when you walk out of his office, seem sincere about it, e.g. not speaking sarcastically or hypothetically, and have the plan and means, you’re gone. If you say you have a plan and the means but don't intend to do it--and are believeable, they won't take you. I've walked around for years with a plan in mind and in possession of the means, which my T and pdoc knew, but without intent so they never had cause to commit me.
For the more subjective situations where you haven't spoken directly about these things, they have to assess you for those things, but I was told by a T and pdoc that if it can't be "reasonably" concluded by a “prudent” pro that you meet those two criteria, they can't commit you. If you express suicidal thoughts, expect a T to ask if you’re safe, if you have a specific plan in mind (though might know your plan you carry in mind and usu. about means but they might know that already), and if you intend to carry it out—as a given. Had it happen to me tonight. No plan, no intent, so I got to come home.
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out of my mind, left behind
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