Why is it so hard to find a therapist who will discuss issues surrounding suicide. Can anyone suggest someone in the Greater Boston area. My first concern is that at first mention of the “S” word, they would want to have me involuntarily committed. That would be a disaster. I am in my 60’s, had too many decades of depression, and now look to more years of aging in poverty. I would like to commit suicide, and have plans, BUT, …and this is why I want a therapist to help…. I don’t want to go out feeling like a loser in a state of depression and despair. I want to go out with a sense of quiet and a peace of mind that allows me to be compassionate with myself. Most therapists are too scared to handle this, or else they are too nervous about the professional ethics if they don’t intervene to stop it. I get that, but what results it that people who are potential suicides will then refuse to talk honestly with their therapists. If we could truly speak honestly and openly about suicide, with full sense that there would be absolute confidentiality, then it is actually possible that some of us might have our lives turned around for the better. Instead, we (I) keep it to myself, lose a possible opportunity for a turn-around, and when I do my final exit, it will not be with the peace of mind that I think I deserve.
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Of course, therapists are afraid of being sued, especially as you seem to want to see one, while continuing plans of suicide. In any case, discussing your own personal plan to commit suicide is not like discussing the weather. People are likely to want to do something about it. Indeed, it is the very fact that they are not indifferent to your proposed act that their advise is worth considering.
A priest, maybe? A person who has wisdom? A valued relation?
But if you are asking for help to commit suicide, therapists are not in that business. What would you expect?
not just therapists…..
i have a great invention but wont patent it because I know some idiot will use it without following directions and end their life.
The USA (especially) is a sue happy country.
Thanks G.W. Your last question is exactly the issue. I don’t want them to give advice or support for suicide….just compassion. For example….in states where terminally ill people with uncontrollable pain are allowed to engaged in assisted suicide, there are counselors who will help them “feel better” about the choice. The choice is always up to the patient, but we all know that the choice is not easy, even when we realize the necessity for it. In the same way that a legal assisted suicide patient can get empathy and comfort in their final moments, I would like to receive empathy and comfort as well. Is that too much to ask? Although the clergy is a poor place to look for understanding on these issues (suicide is a sin that will damn you to everlasting hell), I have actually thought about approaching someone who is a sort of philosophy professor, and who engages in what is sometimes called “existential therapy”, dealing with those big issues of what life is all about, and does it all matter. I guess I’ve gotten to the point of looking at is as being almost more of an intellectual issue than just an emotional one. What is your own take on this? What is your own situation, if I may ask?