Published on 12, July, 2020
I've written on here many times as my obsession is with suicide prevention, which I have got caught up with in a big way, but do not want to die , but realise that we autistics have a very high risk of this.
I've tried the usual things with drugs, psychotherapy etc and in my quest (as a research doctor) , I ve now set up a major research group , with many of the National experts in the country. It has taken years to get to this point but we are approaching a launch and I wondered about others opinions as to a useful avenue.
Existing services are largely medical ( with no evidence they save lives) and listening eg Samaritans (who NEVER give advice), but always listen and chat to ask you about your worries.
We will have a launch to thousands of people. and I feel we need a NEW service that is effective. Many suicidal thoughts relate to problems which are not medical (they are about relationships, finance, legal matters etc) so my idea is to give free access to any experts who wish to register and help with suicidal distress with anonymised (safe advice) I know my problems would have been helped with legal advice, rather than medical.
So FREE EXPERT ADVICE , but creation of a record to monitor peoples requests/ story / perhaps suicide risk factors and safety factors
Do you think this service would be useful and popular? It would all be free and rely on people donating their expertise for free (anonymised).
It would all be on an anonymised database (which could be researched) , but data GDPR security would be essential.
Any thoughts?
Sounds like an excellent idea. As the late Plastic said: "we all know CBT is BS because the things we worry about are real".
I related to that so much. My anxiety is very situational. The folks trying to diagnose GAD for me don't get it. My anxiety will sky rocket with a stressful situation and fall like a stone when it's over. I may be a bit traumatised and wobbly but nothing some sleep won't fix.
I certainly think that many (not all because some autistic people are suffering PTSD too) high anxiety to the point of suicidal ideation episodes for us could be stopped in their tracks when the practical cause of the situation is resolved. So yes, I think good legal advice, social care or housing advice, benefits or employment rights advice etc could do much for our mental health, even suicide prevention.
I would include GPs too - not to dole out antidepressants or referrals to the MH services that do more harm than good often, but to help with medical anxiety. How do we tell our doctor what's wrong when we collapse trying to explain to the receptionist why we want an appointment, can't describe what we physically feel in words they can understand, constantly misinterpret our own body signals, can't process the sensory and verbal information in there and yet are terrified because we are poorly? I'd include GPs as well as legal and other service bods because sometimes it's a medical problem that causes the suicidal ideation (it is for me). Sorting that would preserve life a) by making the suicidal ideation retreat b) make sure we get medical care before little problems become life endangering ones.
This would not be enough for anyone who also had traumas or clinical depression etc, but for me and for many of our problems which have more to do with practically living in a world not designed for us, it would be more than enough. Better in fact than anything mental health could ever do. They just seem to think than you just think differently about a situation to stop the situation happening - what rot! If you have a legal problem, you need a legal solution to feel better, not stuffing full of chemicals or investigating your Id.
You are doing a grand job there, Dave. Hat's off to you.
Some excellent points there Dawn. I think we could get online specialist advice from various experts, but would people know what type of expert to ask for?
I am a GP and know we are hopeless at helping prevent suicide as we just use antidepressants and refer to psychiatrists, whatever the underling cause of suicidal ideation
So when all other avenues for help are exhausted and your tolerance of the mental anguish became overwhelming, would you write about this on a web based system like this, where we vow to try anything (that's affordable) to help