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Intrigue, in his change summary, asked whether it was a good idea to add links to these services here, and which ones should be listed. This is an important question - indeed, the entire content of this article is something that should be considered with great care. We have a responsibility to our own principles and guidelines, but we also have a moral responsibility, in my view, to provide helpful content to those going through a crisis. A listing of an inappropriate service could, in this case, could do a great deal of harm. Because of this, I am very hesitant about adding random services willy-nilly in the same manner that you might on another type of article. Another problem is the enormous fragmentation of such services across the United States. There is no way we could accurately list them all here; the closest thing to a national service I've been able to find in the US is the relatively new 1-800-SUICIDE service (which automatically refers callers to accredited centres), but I'm not sure of the reputation of this.
My initial thought was that the easiest way to provide a comprehensive list of reputable organizations was to pass the job onto others - that is, look for international directories and associations, which turned up the website of Befrienders International. However, this organization folded in January 2003 (I don't know why); the website is currently being maintained by the UK Samaritans (a 50-year-old, UK and ROI-wide service of good reputation), it does have a quite good international directory of services. Another international organization of note is Lifeline International; Lifeline is by far the biggest such service in Australia, and I presume that they have a good reputation in the countries in which they operate. Then there's IFOTES, an international assocation of crisis centres operating mostly in continental Europe. If we list these three, that's a good start, I think, but there still remains the issue about listings in the US. Can any Americans comment here? -- Robert Merkel 22:04, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
What about http://suicidehotlines.com/ for the US? Intrigue 23:04, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Would like to add 1 (800) USA-KIDS, which is a 30 year old hotline for endangered youth. It lists with toll-free directory for missing children, runaways, child abuse, teen anorexia, teen bulimia, teen suicide, cutting, rape, date rape, bullying, cyber-bullying, child exploitation, child trafficking, teen pregnancy, teen prostitution, teen alcohol and substance abuse, etc. Ref. http://www.thursdayschild.org/html/about.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by Minerva Meybridge ( talk • contribs) 07:27, 16 August 2012
"One criticism of suicide hotlines is that those who are determined to kill themselves are unlikely to call one. Also, those with social anxiety may not have the emotional resources to do so. There is no evidence that the presence of suicide hotlines reduces the incidence of suicide."
It is extremally bold to suggest that suicide hotlines don't reduce the incidence of suicide, given their mainstream acceptance by the psychological community. The person who wrote this has provided no support for their claim, and the burden for proof rests with them. Thus, I am removing the paragraph.
"Another issue is that crisis hotlines often contact local authorities. The fear of embarrassment from having the police involved can deter many people who would have otherwise called the hotline."
I believe the issues found in these paragraphs are addressed in the journal article cited in footnote 12. The author of these article paragraphs does make a brief mention of the journal. In all the writing however this person may have missed the fact that the journal made a compelling case for the effectiveness of crisis hotlines.
"Another issue is that crisis hotlines often contact local authorities. The fear of embarrassment from having the police involved can deter many people who would have otherwise called the hotline."
It is factually untrue that the majority of calls end with authorities being called. The journal study, from footnote 12 again, found 12.6% of calls requiring this response. This might deter someone in need from calling a crisis hotline.
I am putting this here for discussion rather than editing first. The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) journal article is in PDF form this one can be downloaded in its complete form if you wish to take a look. http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/pdf/10.1521/suli.2007.37.3.338 Kermitmblank ( talk) 05:21, 22 March 2009 (UTC)
I have deleted the following paragraph, which cited no sources and read like an individual's personal opinion on the matter:
Another issue is that crisis hotlines often contact local authorities. The fear of embarrassment from having the police involved can deter many people who would have otherwise called the hotline. Compounding this further, getting police involved can cause a troubled situation at home to become even worse, members of an already dysfunctional family become more irate with the distressed person. Also, being asked for an address can be seen as an immediate violation of trust, leading to even deeper feelings of hopelessness and isolation. However, many crisis lines do not trace calls and will only offer to send medical assistance if the caller asks for it, thus ensuring that callers can use the service without fear of unwanted emergency services involvement. Callers can ask the particular crisis line they're using what their policy is regarding this matter.
Moonharpoon ( talk) 15:59, 19 January 2014 (UTC)moonharpoon
It is interesting to read this article, and the critism of crisis line volunteers, because I am once myself. Being a crisis line volunteer is not easy. People expect too much from us. They expect us to solve all thier problems and to cheer them up at a moment's notice. Many people forget that we are humans on the other end of the line. We get tired, we get annoyed, we have good days and bad days. We do our best, but sometimes that is not enough.
Even to become a crisis line volunteer is very difficult. I had to go through 3 months of training, and pay for the training (it cost $75). Imagine that, having to pay to do volunteer work !!!
Working on a crisis line shatters many of the myths about crisis lines and those who call them. For one, it is false that the majority of callers are female. There really is no significant sex difference in who calls and who doesn't. Also, it is false that mostly young people call. Some people believe that young people often phone crisis lines, because younger people tend to have more problems because they are less connected to society and society's norms. But the truth is that callers from those under 35 are extremely rare, and younger people tend to go to internet chat rooms for emotional support.
So before you go around ranting about crisis lines and crisis line volunteers, why don't you take a moment to think of all us courageous volunteers have to go through, and how we give so much of ourselves to strangers for free...
How about Nightline? (see http://www.nightline.niss.ac.uk/) Its's a service that runs in many Uk universities. 163.1.68.248 23:36, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
The section currently reads:
"One criticism of suicide hotlines in the past was that those who were determined to kill themselves were unlikely to call one. Also, those with social anxiety may not have the emotional resources to do so. Until recently, there was no evidence that the presence of suicide hotlines reduced the incidence of suicide.[12] However, a 2007 study has suggested otherwise,[13] as peoples' thoughts of suicide decreased during a call to a crisis line, and were lessened for several weeks after their call. These callers are commonly known as frequent, chronic, multiple or repeat callers. A recent systematic review of research into frequent callers [14] to crisis helplines found a need to further understand this group of callers and why they continue to use helplines."
The "however" in the fourth sentence is misplaced, since the rest of the sentence doesn't actually contradict the previous sentence. (It's possible that suicidal ideation decreases during a call but overall incidence of suicide doesn't decrease. For example, maybe the people who actually end up dying aren't the same ones who are making the calls.)
The fifth sentence discusses "these callers", apparently referring to repeat callers, but the topic is unconnected to what came before, and seemingly unconnected to the topic of the section.
There should definitely be a section on the effectiveness of these hotlines. That's the info I was looking for when I came to the article. The section needs a major overhaul by a subject matter expert.
There is currently a discussion at
Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) regarding the use of suicide crisis telephone numbers (which this article includes). The thread is
Suicide hotlines. Thank you.
TheSpacebook (
talk)
01:43, 19 April 2024 (UTC)