I want to help raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention but afraid I'll expose my issues..?

[Lost & Confused]

I'm 24, struggled with depression/anxiety since 14 and suicidal thoughts since 18. I've come close to committing suicide, a few times. The last time I almost went through with it, sends chills down my spine to think I could be gone now if I hadn't found the strength to stop myself.

Every now and then, rarely, I'll see something on Facebook trying to spread awareness of mental health and suicide prevention. I really want to "share" these type of posts on my page to help spread awareness, but afraid it will make obvious to everyone my own personal issues. I'm not ashamed, but it's still a touchy subject for me.

I feel like I need to help others still struggling though and should re-post these things anyway in-case I help someone suffering in silence.

What would you do? Would you repost these things on your Facebook wall or let it slide?
thank you guys for all your helpful answers the guy who posted the photo about it, i shared on my page, didn't show as sharing from him, showed as sharing from the facebook page he got it from....but i also messaged him asking how he was and that i hope he's ok, never got back to me, but anyway, i hope i helped somebody out today if not him.

thank you guys
oh and, no...."found the strength to stop myself" is not code for "changed my mind for now".

it was july 2013 i almost did it. i've been working on recovery since august. finally able to say i'm truly excited about life again. i was also bulimic and since starting medication and doing more therapy i'm proud to say i now haven't purged since september.....and haven't had a suicidal thought since july. amazed at my progress.

[P]

Re-post them! No one is going to suspect anything unless you told them. And there's nothing wrong with sharing posts you feel you should share.

[araktsu]

Is "found the strength to stop myself" code for "changed my mind for now"?


MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

Dhamma claims that all there is of good and evil arises from mind, and that there are three strong roots of evil: greed, hatred, and delusion.

Dhamma claims that there are two kinds of health, namely, physical health and mental health. Many people enjoy good physical health even into old age. But relatively few people enjoy good mental health unless they are vigilant and relentless in rooting out delusional thinking, alleviating ignorance via insight and rational inquiry.

Your perceptions and desires are products of conditioning and other sentient experience you have acquired up to this point in life. You can change the contents of your mind, and you can shape your mind to be pro-social, rational, and smarter, too.

That task is part of what is called mental development and, in my opinion, requires a long-term commitment to high quality education about the real world including the evolution of our species and how the human mind has evolved along with evolution of our brain.

Some kinds of suffering are self-imposed although we do not always recognize this to be the case. Instead we are on a sort of automatic behavior method of coping with reality. We can change our sentient experience however by a sort of deconstruction into component parts; from that point it is ultimately a matter of adopting new, rational, wholesome paradigms.

Unless you have brain damage, as in dementia, you will never lose certain mental schemas and memories. Your inner life is largely based on those schemas. The perceptions and sentient experience you have can be moderated and shaped purposefully as long as you are still functioning. Such an approach requires vigilance and practice. It can be enhanced with greater knowledge of the real world and acquisition of critical thinking skills.

Consciousness is a function of a cognitive neural network processing both sensory data and memory. Sentient experience can be subjectively deconstructed into four foundations of mindfulness:

1. Mindfulness of body.
2. Mindfulness of sensation as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral (physical sensation).
3. Mindfulness of state of mind (attitude, emotion).
4. Mindfulness of content of mind (ideas, learned skills, memory, mental images, beliefs).

As you consider this paradigm, there will be the usual background of a continuous stream of thoughts, random or specific ideas, and images, feelings that come and go. Any of these can distract you, but you can just ignore them or attempt to deconstruct them via the schema above. The brain will do this sort of thing as long as you live. There is no need to suppress any of it; your brain normally processes information via random association or cognitive models you have acquired either on purpose or by random experience. These are the things that usually drive your perceptions and behavior, even your dreams.

See comments by Denim at this site:
http://debateunlimited.com/Debate/viewto...43f935e52f

A simple, pro-social approach to mind shaping (your mind, not the minds of others):
"How to Enjoy Your Life in Spite of It All" by Ken Keyes, Jr.
http://livinglovesystem.info/Living_Love...e_Page.php

[Boys Town]

Helping others can be one of the best ways to heal your own depression and anxiety. When you help others it makes you come out of your own feelings and care for someone else. Depression and anxiety can become very consuming and if you can go outward to share and have compassion toward someone else can be an incredibe experience to cope with depression. Sharing and teaching others is fine because you are enriching someone else that may be struggling and that is a winning situation for you and the person recieving your wisdom.

If you ever need someone to speak with you can call our hotline at 1-800-448-3000 Boys Town Hotline that help with any issue. You can call and speak with a counselor 24 hours/day.

Take care,

AM

[gregory]

Don't worry about what people will think of you....I'm bipolar, have depression, been baker acted 4 times, and been to prison among other things! You're just a caring person who wants ro comfort and assist other people. That is a very noble thing to do. I treat people with kindness...it is a cruel world...you have no idea what a few words can help change a person

[.]

why not get help though you seem like something was troubling you don't be afraid to speak out get help and talk with a therapist we all struggle but we have to be strong and not let things get to us be thankful you're alive and healthy im glad you are still here on this earth you deserve to be no one should ever go through with suicide and its good to see you are aware of how awful it is maybe be an advocate for those who are suicidal you've came a long way be strong and talk with someone don't give up on yourself ever there's people out there dying and suffering and they don't give up neither should you should the thought of suicide or any other crisis come up here are some suicide hotlines to call and other ones

























National Adolescent Suicide Hotline
800-621-4000











United States:
1-800-273-TALK
1-800-309-2131
1-800-SUICIDE

United Kingdom: Hotline: +44 (0) 8457 90 90 90 (UK - local rate)
Hotline: +44 (0) 8457 90 91 92 (UK minicom)
Hotline: 1850 60 90 90 (ROI - local rate)
Hotline: 1850 60 90 91 (ROI minicom)

Canada:Hotline:
+1 (905) 688 3711
+1 (905) 459 7777
+1 800 465 4442
+1 (905) 433-1121
+1 (905) 877-1211

Australia Hotline:

•Lifeline 24 hour crisis support -13 11 14
•Suicide Prevention Foundation (24/7) - 1800 HOLDON (1800 465 366)
•Suicide Callback - 1300 659 467 in every State (available 24 hours a day)






Hotlines for America:
Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696
Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433
Self Harm Hotline: 1-800-DONT CUT (1-800-366-8288)
LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255
Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438
Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673
Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272
Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000







Hotlines for other Countries:
Argentina: 800 5555 5522
Australia: 1800 799 338
Austria: 800 5555 5522
Belgium: 800 5555 5522
Brazil: 0800 891 7391
Canada: 866 246 9224
China: 800 5555 5522
Colombia: 800 5555 5522
Costa Rica: 00 800 5555 5522
Denmark: 00 800 5555 5522
Finland: 800 5555 5522
Germany: 800 5555 5522
Hong Kong: 800 5555 5522
Hungary: 800 5555 5522
India: 000 800 1006 614
Ireland (Republic of): 800 5555 5522
Israel: 800 5555 5522
Italy: 800 5555 5522
Japan: 800 5555 5522
Luxembourg: 800 5555 5522
Malaysia: 800 5555 5522
Mexico: 001 800 514 3716
Netherlands: 800 5555 5522
New Zealand: 800 5555 5522
Norway: 800 5555 5522
Philippines: 800 5555 5522
Portugal: 800 5555 5522
Russia: 810 800 2643 1012
Singapore: 800 5555 5522
South Africa: 800 5555 5522
South Korea: 800 5555 5522
Spain: 800 5555 5522
Sweden: 800 5555 5522
Switzerland: 800 5555 5522 (143)
Taiwan: 800 5555 5522
Thailand: 800 5555 5522
UK: 08457 90 90 90
Other Hotlines:
National Youth Crisis Support: 1-800-448-4663
Youth America Hotline: 1-877-YOUTHLINE ( 1-877-968-8454)
Covenant House Nine-Line (Teens): 1-800-999-9999
Boys Town National: 1-800-448-3000
Teen Helpline: 1-800-400-0900
TeenLine: 1-800-522-8336
Youth Crisis Support: 1-800-448-4663 or 1-800-422-0009
Runaway Support (All Calls are Confidential): 800-231-6946
Child Helpline: (UK Only) 0800 1111
Kids Helpline (Australia): 1800 55 1800

[rebekah]

I asked myself the same question for a long time because i was terrified of being judged if some of the people i knew found out that i was recovering from anorexia, self-harm, and being suicidal... but in the end i looked at it and asked myself what was more important: what people think about me, or what i could do to help someone. So... i started sharing those posts, i even made a facebook page and a youtube channel specifically geared toward that... and... just know that you'll be surprised how many people will support you in the that You don't need to be afraid of people knowing. Because thats part of your story, its part of who you are and what made you who you are now. Dont be afraid to share because you never know who you could touch