How would you handle it if an acquaintance had this Facebook status?

Hopefully his closer friends will drive over to his house and help him. Since you describe your relationship as distant at best, I would do nothing.

This may sound cruel but you should do nothing.
You wrote: “This is a guy I knew in high school and barely remember. I am pretty sure he was actually friends with my brothers and not me. ....this is someone you hardly know and haven’t spoken to in almost 30 years.”
Let his closer friends handle it. It can be anything – from closing his FB account and switching to Google+, all the way to a suicide note. Nowhere in that spectrum is it your problem.

I think I might send a message to a mutual friend who knows him better. I might message him directly to ask if he needs help, maybe provide him with the suicide hotline number. Or, just ignore it like I did not see it. Not sure. It would depend on several different things.

Since you don’t know him well, it would probably be wise not to intervene. Hopefully, his closer friends will respond.

I’d block him immediately. I’m not his family nor his friend. I would not want to be any part of the ongoing drama.

I don’t know that I’d trust that someone else will intervene. I’d send him a PM asking if he’s ok and it there is anything I could do to help.

I wouldn’t get involved, but that sounds like something to take very seriously. I’ve seen lots of people being overdramatic, attention-fishing depression and all sorts of this type of thing.

but sometimes it really is serious, and this seems like one of those cases (without knowing much more). I’ve also seen real, very critical cries for help and this person seems to be reaching a point of accepting he can never ‘get better’, and is realizing he’s been wrong for a long time. This is the type of breakthrough that pushes people over the edge as there is little hope left.

I’d definitely say something at least to friends of his that are closer than you. The only fishy thing is that he put it as a facebook status, much wider spread than any other medium. Hopefully he can get some help, sounds like he needs it.

I guess I would be inclined to contact a mutual friend who knew him better and see if they had seen the status.

I would stay out of it. You hardly know this person and you never know if this is just a lot of drama from someone who just wants attention.

For many years I worked on a ambulance and one of my regular shifts was Sunday night. That is the peak for suicides and suicide attempts. I had the ’‘pleasure” of attending to quite a few patients. Sometimes we were called by a family member or friends after the deed was done. Sometimes friends would call after receiving a strange worrying phone call.

If they were serious, men tended to just do it – in which case it is too late anyway. Women would talk about it… take pills… call friends.. talk more… We’d show up and they’d still be talking – usually.
We would take the person to the hospital where she would get treatment (physical / mental.)
The real way to help this person is to call the authorities: ambulance, police. That will truly help this person either way. But, you are too distant to be in a position to do that.
You have your own problems and responsibilities. Heck you’ve had more contact with me than you have had with this person! Do you want to help solve my problems?
The person already said “lots of drama”. I’d hit the block button and be done with it.

@LuckyGuy, why not notify the authorities in his area? Then, at least it’s in their hands, and they can make the call about whether to do anything or not.

Well, if we don’t speak, they’re not my FB friend. Anyway, if I did see a status like that, I might or might not pm, it’s not really raising any alarm bells for me.

I would have to contact your brothers and make sure someone, besides you, noticed. Then you can let it go. You’re passing on the responsibility to someone more involved, who can look into it with more reason.

I’d take it at face value, meaning the guy is clearly attempting to manipulate people, feigning some sort of apology for his crappy behaviors, yet maintaining he is still f—ked up, READ: I know I’m an ass and always will be and then going on to play some sort of twisted victim card with the threat of disappearing altogether.
Can you spell emotional blackmail? He is hoping people will rally ‘round and announce their loyalty and forgiveness and feel sorry for all his bullshit behaviors that he still just can’t seem to help.

Oh brother!

He may just be thinking about quitting facebook. Let people who are close to him deal with this.

@Sunny2 none of my brothers are on Facebook. @nikipedia I would consider notifying authorities where he is, but I have no idea where he is. I do know others noticed because a couple of people who are seemingly closer to him commented. I also know that as of this morning he is still around because he responded to the comments and sounded much calmer. I have no idea if he is prone to drama and this is par for the course.

@SuperMouse With all those new facts in mind, I would just unfriend him.

IMHO it sounds like a common approach by someone who has deeper issues. Often the self-pity card is put out there in hopes someone else will try to solve the problems that they themselves need to work on.

Ignore!!

@nikipedia You wrote “Why not notify the authorities..? Because the OP is not a direct friend and has not seen nor spoken to the person in 30 years. It would be only slightly better than you or I calling.. Also the OP is not aware of the drama or issues going on .
If a direct friend called, after talking with him on the phone, that would be more meaningful and would carry more weight.
Block and/or Unfriend.

Why did you friend him? Are you friending everyone you know who asks?

@wundayatta no I do not friend everyone I know who asks. I approved his friend request because I vaguely remembered him from high school and he was friends with a couple of other high school friends of mine – friends I am closer to. I did learn a lesson here though and I am unfriending him.

Honestly, I would assume they just want attention, and leave it be.

I think you have to decide if it’s really worth getting involved in. It’s tough when you haven’t talked to that person in a while but it might be a good idea to wonder what’s up with the guy without seeming like you’re trying to get too involved.

People who are suicidal do want attention, @AshLeigh, and I think they should get it. They tend to feel completely isolated, lonely and worthless, despite many contacts with people. Most of the contacts don’t feel real—don’t feel like they get to the essence of the person. People who are suicidal need real, intimate, loving contact.

They are aren’t really threatening suicide to try to get it. It’s more a matter of information. “I’m worthless. It’s time to go. There’s no reason you should do anything about that, but on the off chance that you care, now would be a good time to express that.”

People with borderline personality disorder sometimes make kind of vague suicidal sounding threats to get attention. They also will make half-hearted suicide attempts for the same reason. If you don’t know this person well, it’s probably best to just remove them from your friend list or ignore them. People with this personality disorder simply live for drama and you will get worn out from just reading their status updates.

If someone you knew well and loved much posted something like this, I’d call the police and request a wellness check. This way you are not ignoring the suicide threat, but you aren’t giving them the spotlight of attention they are craving. It’s for their own good, as each time they succeed in getting attention from a suicide threat, they up the ante and will do more drastic things to get the same rush they got the first time. It’s now almost commonly believed that Sylvia Plath’s suicide was accidental. She had a history of threatening suicide and attempting it only when she knew that she’d have an audience to rescue her. Unfortunately, she made all the calls but accidentally locked the door so people couldn’t come in and save her on time.

Out of all of the mental health disorders, I think borderline is the toughest for friends and loved ones to deal with. It’s basically the need to be really nasty to those you love the best and stir up insane drama on a constant basis. Suicide threats are just a very easy way to get lots of attention.

But because they also attempt suicide, police wellness checks are important. The police can assess the situation and give them help if they need it, but won’t feed into their drama fix. My husband does this with his own BPD clients and sometimes I think it’s the only way he gets any time off at home.

Boy Pepperemint Patty – you sure are smart.

@janbb You mean Marcie, not Peppermint Patty.

you are absolutely right birthday boy!