Posted by Fi on November 7, 2004, at 16:39:02
In reply to Re: Pros and cons, posted by Squiggles on November 6, 2004, at 13:29:20
Hi Squiggles (I do like that name!)
> - what happens to people who are desperate,
> and maybe never heard of again?
>
> The paradox of internet help is that the really
> sick may have less access than the not so sick;
> unless a friend of theirs writes for them,
> and asks a question.Very true- I really noticed the lack of easy access to the internet when I was an in-patient. There was a library that had it, but it was a bus ride or 20 minute walk away, then a wait and not private. There was a PC with internet access in a small room that was kept locked. I chatted with one of the other patients how it would have been good to have access to it, for emailing our friends as well as (for me) Psychobabbling. I expect that is common- has anyone had internet access within a psychiatric unit? Was it easy to access/equipment working/cheap or free? Were there limits on how you could use it or the sites you could see? I must say that I would be uncomfortable in an inpatient unit alongside disturbed men who were surfing violent porn everyday..
I think it is very much a reality that people will just disappear off the boards, sometimes after sending v distressed messages. There was one poster who committed suicide; we only knew this as there was someone else trustworthy who actually knew her and what had happened. There may have been others- we just dont know. We can hope that they got better and moved on from these boards. But we can, and will, never know. And need to live with that.
And if someone posts saying they are the friend (or relative) of a poster, we have no way of knowing if that's actually true, unless the poster has already mentioned them in some way. Even then we cant be sure (someone else malicious could have read that the poster had a brother called Ian, say, and use that in making the case that they are the brother).
Anyway, it boils down to having contact with someone in distress and then having absolutely no idea what happens to them.
> Who are the Samaritans, btw?
Started off many years ago as a source of confidential support from highly trained volunteers. They provide face-to-face, phone, text, and email support. UK and Republic of Ireland service; of course, there are other crisis services in other countries (see www.suicide-helplines.org ).
More about Sams:
http://www.samaritans.org.uk/or their FAQ at http://www.samaritans.org/talk/questions.shtm
Fi
PS Dr Bob:sorry if I should have been doing something with double arrows. I can never remember how to do it, and also expect people to be internet savvy enough to copy and paste a url into their browser...
poster:Fi
thread:410198
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20041027/msgs/412992.html