What do the crisis hotline people say when you call?

I am not trained, and you really should call to speak to a counselor.

They will affirm that you did the right thing by calling, and talk to you about what’s going on in your life, both in general and today in particular. And they will talk to you about the fact that things will change, as long as you are here.

You are struggling now, but you won’t always be struggling. And by posting this question you show your hope for things to be better. Thanks for being part of Fluther!

Different people answer it so they have different personalities of course, they are trained to help you, to listen, and to calm you down. I called one a long time ago but it wasn’t for suicide it was for something else. If you need to talk to anyone I’m here :)

They ask, are you in a safe place… usually.

never called one. but if you felt suicidal and got no satisfaction try calling a good local hospital emergency/psychiatry hotline if you don’t have a shrink to call.

Keep in mind the difference between “disinterested” and “uninterested”. It sounds that you got someone who sounded “uninterested”. A good counselor will be “disinterested”, meaning that they have no personal stake (“no interest”) in your outcome, but it certainly does not mean that they “don’t care”.

People at hotlines should not bring “their case” to the job, but people are people. He or she could have just had a bad day, no sleep, problems with their own mortgage, love life, taxes, etc. “Shit happens”. Just ask for another operator.

If you call again – and if you’re having the kinds of thoughts that led you to do that the first time, then I strongly suggest that you do – if you get someone who rubs you the wrong way, then ask for someone else, or call another hotline. Don’t throw away your life because you don’t like the person you happened to get on the phone! Get someone else; it’s what they’re there for in the first place.

I worked at a crisis hotline as a teenager and the phone mostly rang with dickheads trying to do some stupid “mess with the hotline” thing. We could never assume. Always think it might be real and those guys could be testing if there would be a real person to talk to them. Maybe some of the assholes were the ones who called back.

I can tell you from my recent experience of looking for help, the hotline is a goddamned joke. It’s a recording asking you to press a number based on your perceived crisis level. It doesn’t even matter what you press, you get forwarded to a switchboard eventually that offers to send you a packet to evaluate your mental state so it can be given to the appropriate dept. That is what you get when you look up Mental Crisis in my area.

Can imagine standing on a bridge and thinking “one more thing, maybe I’ll call…” and get that. It just made me angry. So, I guess it works in a fucked up way.

I tried that a couple of times. They don’t want to talk to you unless you are what they consider to be legitimately upset or legitimately in danger. They will just be rude to you. Then, one day I had had enough. I called them, really upset, my whole day had gone into the crapper, and I could not have been feeling worse. They called the police on me, after giving me the impression they would not and to call if I needed them again. Well, one thing led to another, and I wound up spending pretty much the whole night in Psych ER. I would not go within 100 miles of those two faced liars, if my life depended on it – which, by the way, IS kind of ironic, don’t you think?

Take-away: Do not trust 1–800-SUICIDE!!! (Unless you like being humiliated and having your day ruined further….)