Oh, the Things We Have Heard, or Things NOT to say to suicidal people

NOTE: Not all of these were told to me.  These were told to some suicidal person though as I have collected these from hospitals I have visited.

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What do you have to be depressed about?

I know how you feel.

Why can’t you [be stronger and] pull yourself out of this?

Why can’t your doctor get your medications right?  (I.e., you don’t have issues, it’s just a matter of getting those pesky little chemicals right.)

It was just a cry for help.

How dare you try to abandon your two kids like that!

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

You exhaust me.

If you needed attention, there are better ways of getting it. You don’t have to do this.

If I had known you would turn out this way, I never would have had you.  (No, I’m not making this up.  The speaker has actually won the “Dumbest Thing a Mother Could Say” award.  (OK, I made up that last bit, but I’m sure if there were such an award, this lady would have won it.))

Would you mind if I don’t come to see you in the hospital? I will definitely come to see you next time. (I know that’s not what they meant, but still … think, then speak. Not the other way around.)

I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, but I couldn’t find a cheap flight earlier than today.

I thought you said you’d never do this again.

So, how about them Bears? (I.e., acting like it never happened.)

You weren’t depressed as a child. You just can’t remember how happy you were. (Interpretation: If you had been depressed, we would have noticed. We weren’t too caught up in our own pursuit of hedonic escapism to notice you. You’re the one who’s sick, not us; so you must be mistaken about how YOU FELT as a child; we could not have been mistaken about how YOU FELT. You are fucked in the head because of your biological father’s genes, not because of my parenting, you fucking ungrateful little … )

(Editor’s note: And these were just from the parents!!!)