Posted by shar on October 15, 2000, at 12:05:57
NB: I don't want to tear Caroline's post apart again. I am wondering where "support" begins and ends.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is based on the response post that Caroline wrote above. I went back and read what Caroline wrote after having read what Pritzker wrote, and I still tend to agree with Caroline.
I guess my question is: when someone is obviously distressed, fends off all recommendations, lives in a way that does not seem reality-based (IMHO), and keeps on responding to posts with more of the same, ..... what to do?
Support that person unconditionally down that road? There had been many previous supportive responses to Pritzker's initial post(s). When I read P's responses and they continued to get (IMHO) less oriented toward wanting to understand or help herself, and more into the fantasy world, I was very concerned that this person was in need of real help and wasn't understanding that there was a problem. I thought this might be a case where P was about to have a breakdown or was about ready to go off in a more regrettable fashion, and needed to be addressed.
In light of all that, I appreciated the straightforward and genuine way Caroline's post said "Get help" in essence. I did not know how to write a good response, I fear mine would have been much plainer than Caroline's and not so full of qualifications such as "I may be wrong" or the other things Caroline did to soften her statements. (I have to admit I still have those concerns about P and hope she came to realize she needed help pretty quickly.)
So, hypothetically, how do people think it's best to handle a situation where someone is not presenting with clear symptoms (ie, suicidal ideation), but seems to need help pretty quick, but doesn't seem to have any idea of that?
Shar
poster:shar
thread:1083
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001011/msgs/1083.html