dad tried to commit suicide

Yes he went to the hospital, took 45 mins for ambulance to arrive, they pumped his stomach and took blood tests at intervals overnight.

He didn't want me to go with him, a family member went with him.
 
If he makes comments about it, you could always get him sectioned, not always the best thing to do at first however if you're worried, the options there.
 
wwellhe'll be hassled by the team there who will ask

"what did you do"

"why did you do this"

"are you going to do it again"


this will be asked by about 3-6 people one after the other with none of them informing the next til lyou either give up or they run out of staff then send you on your way

That's very different to all the hospitals I've worked in. When an attempted suicide comes in they are seen by the initial doctor and the next team to see them is the psyche team who are the best people to manage these patients.

You may be suprised how open your dad is to talking to someone like a pysche doctor. Patient often find it easier talking to them as they have no vested emotional attachment. Just like you vented in a somewhat annonymous way on the internet. Hope you and your dad get through this. Must be a very difficult time.
 
tell him to man up ?

How about you get a sense of morality, and not post something so stupid and ignorant in the future.

Sorry to hear this OP, hope he is doing slightly better now. It does sound like he needs professional help though, there is only so much you can do on your own. Glad you finally managed to take the plunge and get him talking, this is often the beginning of the recovery process. Just be gentle but firm with him.
 
That's very different to all the hospitals I've worked in. When an attempted suicide comes in they are seen by the initial doctor and the next team to see them is the psyche team who are the best people to manage these patients.

You may be suprised how open your dad is to talking to someone like a pysche doctor. Patient often find it easier talking to them as they have no vested emotional attachment. Just like you vented in a somewhat annonymous way on the internet. Hope you and your dad get through this. Must be a very difficult time.

get seen by nurse asks those questions, at some point later depending on how you got there/what's wrong, doctor or nurse comes asks you those questions again, then a long long time later the mental health team start arriving, usually a nurse, then a doctor then maybe a consultant, each time either into the office or just at your room all asking those 3 questions (none have read your file or spoken to the person before them) along with lots of unhelpful slightly accusational crap if it's late at night.



then you go home thencome the daily or three day vists usually by different people each time none having trails your file asking those three questions this happens.till you're nearly in years having to relive the darkest time of your life every few days and you tell them to **** or if your lucky the community team.come in and you get some more stable long term.support. then you just have to put up with the doctors and nurses treating you as if you learning disabilities and saying everything like your a two year old and repeating themselves if you like it or not.

the actual support workers though are usually.really good because they get to know you as a person rather than just those three horrible questions in disinterested tone
 
Sorry to hear,

My dad had one failed attempt at suicide which was heartbreaking and then one successful attempt which has changed my life.

Make sure you get help and push for it, i struggle to give advice on the subject because I try to block it all out, he didn't get the help he deserved, no one took it seriously.
 
I've helped people through suicidal feelings and several related thing (self harm, anorexia ect) and as everyone else has said, get him to talk, if he won't to you then either through private counselling, or go to a GP who will refer him to an NHS physiologist and if he feels the need will be able to prescribe something like citalopram to make it easier to talk to people about it and help flatten out the incredibly low points.

Good luck to both you and more so to him in his recovery.
 
Don't forget yourself in all of this, while no doubt your dad needs all the help he can get from you and professionals, it can take a real toll seeing your parents go through times like this and you may want to talk it through with someone too (I am not suggesting you have mental health issues just that a professional may help you understand, deal with it yourself and give tools to assist).
 
if he's in hospital then won't the nurses get someone in to talk to him?

surely they can't just fix him up and send him on his way?

Hospital staff are useless when it comes to things like this. They're not equipped to deal with it, and - in my experience - lack even the slightest bit of compassion for people in his situation.
 
When my parents split (mum went off with another guy, essentially) my Dad was crushed emotionally. He just turned into an automaton and functioned but there was nothing inside. I think this was particularly bad as it coincided with me going to university, and given my sister was off working elsewhere as well, he had nothing to do but mull it over again and again. He was also stuck in a job he hated and was facing redundancy. I was at home from university for the summer after a year or so and came home one day to a letter on the stairs saying he wasn't coming back. He had gone to throw himself off a cliff, and though he got as far as holding a leg out, thankfully he never did.

It's daft to say, but time is a healer. He's now re-married and is the happiest I think I've ever seen him. He and my new m-in-l look after her daughter's son and he now has a grandchild from me and my gf that he would never have seen. My m-in-l has been through similar things (abusive partner) and together they have really re-invented themselves.

I found it very difficult to speak to him about it as well - not the sort of thing you imagine yourself doing - but all you really need to do is offer your support. All is not lost.
 
I don't know what I can do or say to help him. He wont talk to anyone including me.

Sometimes the best thing you can say is nothing, just let him talk, hopefully due to this recent episode he may have to talk to someone as I'm certain there is some sort of follow up to an attempt on your life (I may be wrong).

I hope things improve for him soon, for your sake as well as his.

A relative of mine went through a similar situation as A.N. Other and he is quite correct that time is a healer, trouble is if you're the person going through the 'healing' it can't come soon enough and it can all get too much at times.
 
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Don't forget yourself in all of this, while no doubt your dad needs all the help he can get from you and professionals, it can take a real toll seeing your parents go through times like this and you may want to talk it through with someone too (I am not suggesting you have mental health issues just that a professional may help you understand, deal with it yourself and give tools to assist).


Whilst those who actually suffer from a mental health problem eventually get the care they need - I say eventually because it will be a while in getting to them because of the treatment hierarchy check-boxes (have we tried this yes/no did it work yes/no try something else until it works or we exhaust the options and finally refer you to a consultant) - you will find that there is exactly FA support for those partners and family members who are placed in the situation of helping a loved one when they are suffering.

In the short term this is not usually a problem, but over extended months and even years it can be very draining on your daily ability to cope with the situation and this in itself can be detrimental to any progress toward recovery.

As much as you might think you know what to do to help, how to guide or give support, you cannot make the person well. They have to want it for themselves. Quite often they will not be able to see this or understand what they are taking from you in the process.

You have some difficult times ahead of you OP more so than the suicide attempt; I wish you fortitude and patience.
 
Just an idea.....one of the best ways to get over somebody, is to get with someone else.

Maybe when he feels up to the idea....get him signed up to some dating sites and out dating new women.

My old man found his now new wife online and he is the happiest man you'll ever see.

Once he finds someone new....his ex will be a long distant memory.

Good luck dude.
 
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