m/m,

I know that is sometimes the case. I also believe that if some one truly wants to die, they will eventually find a way to do so. And I think people have the right to commit suicide. However,in the majority of situations, suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems.

They do not, however, have the right to include me in their plans. When a person shares with me their intent, or I discover their action before they are dead, I have a legal, moral and ethical responsibilty to intervene. I think this is true of me as an individual, and not just as a clinician with legally and societally defined responsibilites. To tell another person of your intent to suicide, and then demand that person to do nothing, is the ultimate "double bind" and there is nothing more passive-aggressive. The person may successfully suicide. I have to keep living, and live with myself.

I will intervene for my own well-being, if for no other reason. The clients I work with are savy about the mental health system. They know that if they tell me about their intent that I will take every possible action to intervene. I therefore operate on the assumption that 1. They still have some ambivalence about suicide somewhere in their psyche, or 2. They are mad and vengeful enough to kill themselves in order to "punish" some one else (sometimes, me, the therapist.)and want to be sure the other knows they are being punished, or 3. both of the above.

Jeri, I agree with what you say. But those feelings of responsibility and guilt are normal and expectable, and a person who is thinking cogently knows the effects their suicide might have on others.

Janie