I’m a mental health therapist. And, for the most part, I take suicidal ideation seriously. But I firmly believe I have had clients that would never kill themselves because then the attention would stop. Attention holds more power for them than death does.
And along similar lines, I’ve encountered people that are so treatment-resistant that it has transformed my stance on suicide. Sometimes I think people are incompatible with life, and the most humane thing to do is allow them the freedom to choose when years of therapy, inpatient, residential, and meds haven’t worked. Obviously it’s an opinion I keep completely to myself, but there are few places sadder than an inpatient treatment facility.
Maybe the reason I know I’ve encountered clients who would never end their lives is because I’ve seen such deeply depressed people who would give anything for happiness. Suicidal depression isn’t an attention game for them.
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