Every show with a suicide now has a disclaimer with a suicide hotline at the beginning. Is there any evidence that these warnings make a positive difference?
I struggle with suicidal ideation problems. They have been so severe in the past that I almost went through it. While not all suicidal scenes trigger me, there are a few. And I have found that having the warnings help me from shutting off the TV and running off in a crying fit. I know it’s coming and can prepare myself. And knowing that the hotline is there has been one of the most comforting things I know of. I may have never called, but it’s there for when I can’t deal on my own. So yes, the warnings make a positive difference for me.
I’ve said this elsewhere in the thread, but I have had suicidal ideation… ‘events’ as well, never called though. If you want someone to talk to (anyone else, too! yes, that means you, hi!), reach out and message me. I know this shit all too well and I don’t mind in the slightest, talking to someone who needs - or just wants - to communicate with someone who ‘gets it’.
No pressure, I just want to help others like myself.
It is well appreciated.
It’s amazing how effectively just hearing this from someone who has firsthand insight can put it in perspective.
The worst about ideation for me is that a few days/weeks/months later, I’m almost always thinking “I was willing to do that? Because of XYZ? That would’ve been so fucking stupid!”
But in the moment your brain can just be like “topping yourself is clearly the only logical solution” and make you actually believe that shit.
It’s wild.
Sorry, I realise this is a bit off topic.
Funny the fictions we contrive for ourselves in our own heads.
There’s a real need to get ones world view/beliefs and the insecurities and inner critics in line in order to survive it seems.
That’s my latest conclusion, anyway. Distraction and drinking haven’t really helped. Shocking, I know…
I’m OK (now? currently? hopefully forever) but when I’m struggling I too appreciate the warning.
Suicides can be really easy to prevent.
Like, the hotline itself is incredibly effective, and reminding people it exists would naturally help.
People aren’t getting the number from the intro, but it reminds them it exists.
It also helps normalize actually think about it or discussing the subject.
I think, at best, it can only help with certain types of potential suicides. Some suicides occur due to apparently hopeless life situations. For instance, I haven’t been able to get a real job in 23 years despite, in that time, finishing a B.A., an M.A., and a Ph.D. Nothing that everybody says to do works for me and I’m frankly tired of hearing it. I’m stuck DoorDashing (Uber was way too abusive) and that I’m stuck doing that is intensely depressing.
Psychology can’t help with this. The only thing that can help is a real job. And that’s what a lot of the babble about suicide prevention seems to miss.
I’m so sorry to hear it.
One of the doormen in my building is kind of in a similar situation. He got his doctorate this year, beautiful flute player. Can’t find a job in his field.
Good question, but I expect as far as whether it should be there or not, it doesn’t really matter. There is no harm in it being there, after all. And in the end, if it helps one single person not kill themself, I’d say that’s a win.
It’s funny I litterally just finished an episode of Search Engine, the ‘new’ PJ Vogt podcast, where that’s the actual question. It was the May 3rd episode, and they’re interviewing a researcher on the topic, etc.
Optics.
Sooner or later someone will commit suicide while watching your show, no matter what you do. If that episode happens to contain a suicide scene, and somebody rightly or wrongly connects the dots, you want the disclaimer to be there.
I don’t think it’s about making a positive difference, it’s about liability.
I don’t doubt that someone might be thinking that, but I do doubt that any lawyer thinks it’s necessary. As far as I know nobody has ever brought suit against a TV show for a suicide case.
But I’m not an attorney.
I’m pretty sure that 13 Reasons Why show had a whole thing involving just this
Lawsuits of “my child died because they copied your TV show” have been going on for decades.
I predicted in about 10 years disclaimers at the beginning will include, ‘This show depicts murder. Neither the show’s creators producers or actors condone the taking of another human life.’
They need “This show depicts stupidity” but they will never have it.
Idk, but I bet they think it’s the least they can try. If it saves just one life, it has been worth.
Businesses do not care about people, I can pretty much guarantee those were added in order to waive liability. Example: person commits suicide because they see it in a show, family sues show company because that is linked to the person’s suicide, arguing the show encouraged the person to do it.
Would that hold up in court? I don’t know, probably not, but the company doesn’t want to deal with that. So they add a warning instead so they can just point to that and it gets thrown out immediately.
I wish I could opt out of those messages. On streaming platforms that should be doable! (I really hate spoilers.)
All the lukewarm attempts to help, rooted in shallow understanding, reinforced my suicidal ideation. What’s the value of false love from a paid hotline worker one will never speak to again? It’s negative.
Be ready to love the shit out of someone yourself. Share their sorrow. Don’t try to fix it. Just try to understand. It’ll fucking suck. The other person knows it sucks for you. Tell them it sucks and that you’re choosing it.
If you have read the content on https://afsp.org/im-having-thoughts-of-suicide/ I’d be interested to hear your take. After my brother committed suicide I found their content for suicide loss survivors to be very helpful, but as a suicide loss survivor I can’t judge the content they have for folks who are considering suicide.
There’s evidence that trigger warnings actually worsen anxiety and are counterproductive
The way to treat anxiety is to face the source of anxiety to try and change your relationship and reaction. The best way to do this is via controlled access that exposes one to the trigger gradually in a context that has no risk of harm (eg a media depiction, discussing the concept, building up to discussing the source of trauma that led to the phobic response if applicable)
Trigger warnings enable active avoidance. This sensitizes one to the aversive stimuli and makes the phobic response stronger. As a result when one encounters the stimulus (eg a friend, family, celebrity etc commits suicide, suffers an eating disorder, etc) your resilience to the trigger is now even lower and the response is more likely to be more significant than it was before.
That said education on access to resources like 988 or other warm lines can lower suicide rates, maybe. Research is more mixed here because it’s difficult to prove causation
To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a major peer reviewed study to show whether these warnings make any difference.
Now, my own anecdotal non-peer reviewed personal opinion would be that they probably make no difference at all. Businesses likely began adding them only to waive potential liability and not to actually do anything helpful. They can be frustrating because they spoil upcoming events in media that may have been unexpected or unknown, but because of the warning are now definitely known and thus feels “ruined” when it happens. They can also reinforce ideation of suicide because a person may feel like the ones that added the warning did it as a token thing, treating the person like they are a badge of honor or some kind of selling point. Whether that is true or not doesn’t really matter, a person that is suicidal is almost never “in their right mind,” and if they feel that way, they feel that way. Nobody can tell them how to feel, not even themselves sometimes.
I can’t imagine they’d be helpful to me, if anything it makes me feel lesser or condescended to. It’s not the right way to talk about suicide with people who are suicidal.
I remember my college had a suicide awareness day where among other things they told people to tell their suicidal friends to call the hotline if they felt suicidal.
Now imagine you are that person and you reach out to a friend for help only to have them tell you to call someone else in a canned speech you were told to tell others.
Two sides to every story. Your friend isn’t your therapist and while instantly reacting with “go call hotline” means you don’t have a friend at all, you cannot expect your friend to be able to bear the weight of your feelings, of your darkest moments with you. Stuff like this ruins people and I know that from experience from both sides. Dealing with suicidal thoughts of other people is extremely stressful and basically a landmine field. You aren’t trained to navigate it properly. You are not objective. And ultimately, other than being a sympathetic ear, you are unable to help them in the way they need help.
Tone matters, like the difference between telling someone they should consider seeing a therapist, and telling someone they need a therapist.
In text it is still hard, but convincing someone to talk to a professional (not saying they are all doctors or something) because you don’t feel equipped to handle the situation on your own shouldn’t be devastating if you go through a small course like that. Never taken one but just off the cuff I’d say offering to call with them and staying for the conversation until you/they agree they feel comfortable carrying on with the help line or what not on their own before walking away would probably be a decent step in the right direction. The line could advise you of the next steps you might not be thinking of in that moment, getting them around other friends/family/bringing them to a medical professional, I’m sure it varies.
