Posted by wishingstar on September 9, 2006, at 22:41:11
Oh boy. I just got off the phone with a man from the 1-800-suicide hotline. What an interesting (ha) experience.
I have never talked to someone who sounded so scripted in my life. Maybe because I'm trained in counseling (classes) or maybe just from being in therapy... but he was trying to reflect feelings (what I hear you saying is..) but he was so obvious about it. He'd use my exact words and state the obvious, over and over. It actually helped because I was able to laugh to myself on the other end of the line (silently) and that helped calm me down a little. But at the end, I could tell when our conversation was over... he started his line about "we're always here to help, please call back etc etc". Felt a little forced, but really we werent getting anywhere talking, so I guess its okay.
Has anyone else ever called a hotline before? Is this what your experience was like? It felt goofy and stupid.
The reason I called was to try to decide if I should take myself to the hospital or not. I still have no idea.
poster:wishingstar
thread:684616
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060826/msgs/684616.html