Nice article on trying to save someone from committing suicide. I found the don’t dos more useful than the dos.
1. Don’t say, “I know how you feel.”
“You don’t know how I feel,” Moore says. “Even if you’ve been suicidal, you don’t know how I feel, because everyone’s situation is different.”
Sharing your own experiences of psychological distress isn’t helpful, either, she says.
“The last thing anyone in that situation wants to hear is someone else’s story,” she says.
2. Don’t say, “Just snap out of it.”
If they could, they would.
3. Don’t say, “There was an earthquake in Haiti. Your situation isn’t that bad.”
You might think you’re encouraging your depressed friend to realize how fortunate he or she is, but you’re probably not succeeding, Rappaport says.
“The idea of counting your blessings does help, but it’s hard to hear,” she says. “It can feel like you’re diminishing the psychic pain someone is in.”
via How to save a friend from the brink | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.