"are you think about harming yourself?"- question from doctors?!
Question: I'm currently being treated for depression and anxiety, and I have been to a number of doctors. The first question they always ask me is "are you thinking about harming yourself?" I always say "no," but this is a blatant lie. I think about it constantly. The reason I say I'm not is because I don't want them to send me off to the psych. ward or to tell my school or anything.
If you tell them you're having suicidal thoughts can they actually involuntarily hospitalize you?
Answers: I'm currently being treated for depression and anxiety, and I have been to a number of doctors. The first question they always ask me is "are you thinking about harming yourself?" I always say "no," but this is a blatant lie. I think about it constantly. The reason I say I'm not is because I don't want them to send me off to the psych. ward or to tell my school or anything.
If you tell them you're having suicidal thoughts can they actually involuntarily hospitalize you?
It is usually one of the first questions as it is used to find out where you are at emotionally. It is best to be honest, that is the only way that you will truly get the help you need.
When I am asked that and I feel that way I say "yes", they usually then ask "do you have a plan?" and I say "of course I do, I always have, however I'm not going to do anything" Then they usually ask me to make a contract not to harm myself.
It is important that they know that you are thinking about it constantly. However, thinking about it and doing it are two different things and they will continue questioning to get to the core of what is going on. Also if you are on medications, they may need to be changed and/or adjusted and those questions help them identify if that is necessary.
They cannot legally tell your school anything as they are bound by confidentiality.
If you do admit to suicidal thoughts, that is not necessarily an automatic commitment to the psych ward. If you indicate that you are planning to harm yourself, yes, they may have you admitted under a 72 hour hold. However it has to be more than thoughts in most instances in my experience.
In fact when I have admitted myself voluntarily because of depression and needing a medication change, I have had to lie and tell them that I am currently suicidal or they will send me home. That is a sad truth, I believe it comes down to the almighty dollar and bed space.
If you really want to get better, it is necessary for you to be totally honest with them. They cannot help you effectively if they don't know how you really feel.
Good luck and take care,
Michelle
Yes
I think it is only if you are planning suicide.
No they wont tell anyone else what you're thinking or telling them unless they think you are in real serious risk of hurting yourself.
You can trust your doctors to keep whatever you tell them strictly confidential. They can advise you things such as "i think it would help you if you were to talk to X" but they cannot force you to do this. They can suggest you take medication but you can refuse this too. They are there to support you as best they can and know how important confidentiality is to their patients. They wont tell anyone without your permission.
They ask this question to guage the risk of you hurting yourself, there are different measures in place. They would ask
Have you ever thought of hurting yourself
Do you have any plans to do it
Have you taken any steps towards preparation.
If you were to answer, yes, i want to hang myself on saturday and ive written a suicide note. They would pressure you more to go see someone, they might suggest you have a crisis pal come visit you to offer support, give you information on nighttime phone lines and support etc. If you were to say "im going to go home now and kill myself" they might be forced to call the police as an emergency. Hopefully it wouldnt ever come to this.
Having suicidal thoughts is a sign of mental illness, that CAN be treated. There is a cure for you. They cant hospitalise you because of it.
Please talk to your doctor about it. You need to to help yourself address these thoughts and get rid of them once and for all.
All the best.
The doctors are always going to do what's best for you so it's always good to be honest with them. They are the experts and if they were to hospitalise you then it would be because that's whats right for you in the long run.
However, they only do this in extreme cases because they like to work with you to get you better, not against you.
I'm sorry to hear you're feeling so bad and believe that if you are thinking this way, it'll be best if the doctors know so they can help you to work out coping mechanisms to get you through this tough time.
Take care of yourself. X
What you say to a doctor is supposed to be kept confidential unless there is a belief by the physician that you are likely to physically harm yourself or someone else. At that point, it becomes a much larger legal issue for them and can't be held in confidence. Also, it is a standard question that they ask all patients who deal with depression. Again, they are hoping you will open up to them because some people won't say anything unless someone else brings it up. I would suggest not hiding it from them. If not the doctors, you should at least talk this over with other people close to you. Suicide is never a good option because I'm positive you have a much greater purpose for being placed on this earth...and you will find it, just keep with it! Best of luck to you.
Heya hun,
I am wat most people call emo. Middle of last year i was diagnosed with clinical depression by a government health website. I had been self harming for 3 weeks before this. It was because my mum went away for 6 months on a naval ship and we were left with dad and he was hurting my sister and i alot. It began with a voice in my head that kept telling me to kill them and hurt them and make them respect me. to stop myself from doing this i started cutting myself and i was always plnning suicide, often i thought about travelling to a nearby bridge na djumping into the cars that drove below it or stabbing myself in the heart or , whne i was walking home or along the highway, i thought about jumping out in front of cars. it always seemed to silence that voice. I ended up talking about it to some friends who became concerned with my sudden silence and darkness and asked me wat was going on. i don't cut myself anymore though i still have occasional thoughts off suicide i usually take off for a friends house and live there for a while and they help me. So my suggestion to you is to talk to someone who can understand what it is your going through. If you want you can talk to me. aussie_babe.001@hotmail.com. tho ur probably more comfortable keeping to urself or talkin to people u no. btw they can hospitalize you without you or ur parents permission if they think you are serious about attempting suicide. be carefull. xoxoxoxo
They ask you this because your safety is their first priority - you aren't going to get the proper help you need unless you tell the truth, I know it's extremely difficult but you need to tell the truth. I don't think they can tell your school - there are privacy laws that protect that, but I would think they would send you for some short term inpatient care just to get you stabilized - which might not be a bad thing - it could save your life.
they have to ask this first -otherwise they could be sued for malpractice if you were to leave there office and then hurt yourself or worse .please try and find someway to get past those feelings(as you seem to have so far).and to answer your question yes-they can!