What should I do when someone want to take their life?

* mention of suicide*


I go on a website called yahoo answers and in the mental health forum section, I see questions of people asking how should they kill themselves. I think that site needs to ban questions containing suicidal messages. I was wondering what should I do? Tell them not to kill themselves and they won't listen to me.

Yes any site should ban that type of question because sadly there are sites where some terrible person will tell them how and encourage them too - a man named William Dinkel did this. You can google his name. There must be a way to report a post. Best thing to do is report it and leave a short message, for them to get help IRL.

You are right. I have seen messages of people telling other people how to kill themselves. It's sad. Thank you for your advice

Sadly there is stuff like this on the internet, Yeah I would report it.

I would be wary of sites like yahoo answers. When it comes down to it, your mental wellbeing is important too and if your frustrated at not being able to help people i think its best to leave these people to find a more suitable form of help. Obviously if your particularly worried about someone then perhaps provide them with some crisis numbers or support websites. Don't take it upon yourself to swoop in and try and sort out the situation yourself though - thats not fair to you. Perhaps you could direct the guys on that site to this forum if they want support?

Best thing I should do. I try to help.

I will try to and thank you for your reply

Plus when I ask a question about religion, I just loads of answers from trolls -_-

troll religion....hmmmm...life beyond the mossy bridge...who knew????

(just kiding)

I would stay away from there then sounds like not a nice place to be

I better do

unfortunately we cant control what the administrators of websites do. all we can do is control our own actions. my actions when I encounter posts like this any where on the internet is report them to the website's administrative team and then go read posts that more fit what I am looking for.

I dont believe sites like yahoo answers should ban the posts when someone posts suicidal questions.. here in the USA Americans have a constitutional and civil rights to write and speak any thing they want to. its called freedom of the press and freedom of speech. granted those rights are not about the internet because when those two rights came into being there was no internet but the courts uphold these rights when internet issues about what someone can and cant say on the internet appear before them in cases of slander/libel.

if yahoo bans the topic of suicide, what next "painting" because we now have the sometimes violent sport of "painting", or maybe they should ban the topic of cats or dogs because someone who got bit by a cat or dog might get triggered by it, or how about "guns" because someone may be looking for information on what to do about their friend who shot their self and someone reading may not like the topic of guns and dont know what to say to someone who needs information about guns in a situation like this.

I do believe that mental health websites such as PC should have limitations of what can be posted about suicide on their "community" boards. but I dont feel they should ban posts about suicide in their "ask a question, ask a therapist" page. On the community forums here every single person on here has probably at some time or other tried suicide or felt suicide was the answer. mental health communities such as the likes of here deal primarily with aspects of mental illness. so the potential of sending our peers on a wide scale into Suicide thoughts, actions is much greater than say Yahoo answers where they are primarily for the general public. the odds of someone reading on Yahoo answers about someone wanting to off their self is very much less. not that it wont happen just has a lesser chance of happening. like with any other topic people need and want to know about suicide.

where does all that leave us.. with the fact that we cant control others, all we can do is control our own actions.

if you know those kinds of postings are a sore spot for you, a trigger for you, leaves you feeling frustrated, helpless then theres no reason to read them.

if you know those kinds of posts interest you and you can at the very least tell the person they are not alone, or have other tips, advice, insights for those that post they want to commit suicide then read and answer those posts.

me I choose to report them if there is a way to do that and then go finish what ever I was looking for to begin with, most of the time , I just dont bother reading about the suicide postings. I get enough of that kind of thing in my job, my down time doesnt need it too. I guess Im just not that interested in trying to control what others post on the internet, free speech, free press and all..

The internet is such a wonderful place but it is also abused by many people. I can understand you wanting to help happycheeks but the thing is, anyone can post on that site. Some people like to post stuff like that just for the kick. I know that sounds awful but you truly don't know who is posting. And even if you knew the person posting there is no real way to help someone on the internet. That is why we don't allow such posts here at Psych Central, the internet is not the place to get immediate help.

Hugs to you (((((((( happycheeks ))))))))))

How about when the person can't talk or doesn't know who to talk to and don't want to go to a therapist or whatever? Like this example: http://healthmad.com/mental-health/d...al-tendencies/

I went to that site and my yahoo account got hacked. I stay away from there now. just sayin!

Oh my goodness I think I should

i dont know what im doing alive but i guess you get two options 1. stay alive and keep trying to figure it out 2. just go

would I have to pay rent and how would i get internet under a bride?????

Being alive is the better option. Life is worth living. You may not believe me but I believe it is worth living life.

Might be best to stay away from those sites. We always want to discourage others but what happens if they do it anyway. Guilt? Always involve a professional if possible and then back off for your own triggerability and sanity.

hey happycheeks sorry this has happened to you. I agree that your wellbeing is more important than answering or dealing with those sites. None of us can take on the problems of the world alone. And unfortunately suicidal desires are hard to stop, and even more so online. that's why there are people trained to work with people like that - therapist.


If you WANT to go back to the site, the best I can say is to report it and tell them to seek IRL help. Often they may not be able to see this, but that would really be the best thing for them - if they REALLY are thinking seriously about suicide they need someone in their lives who can stop them and look them in their eyes and work with them through the crisis, and online we just can't do that.

Anyways, *hugs* and take care of yourself ok?