LIVE AMA DISCUSSION WITH DR. JENNIFER CRUMLISH
In this thread, we will host a live forum AMA with Dr. Jennifer Crumlish!
This is a special event to honor Suicide Prevention Day. Learn more about @DrJenniferCrumlish and this event here.
We are glad you are here! Everyone is welcome to participate! Make sure to review the guidelines for posting a question below. Due to the sensitivity of this topic, any questions which fall outside these guidelines will be removed by a moderator.
---------> How to participate: At 4:00 PM ET you may start posting your questions! Dr. Crumlish will reply in the order they are posted.
Question Asking Guidelines -
Dr. Crumlish is able to answer your questions regarding:
1) Basic facts and information about suicide research
2) Reducing isolation around suicide
3) How to support someone who has lost a loved one to suicide & how you can help yourself if you've lost someone to suicide
4) Reducing Stigma around suicide
Questions pertaining to the below topics are not permitted.
1) How to manage suicidal users at 7 Cups.
2) If you are suicidal and need support
* If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the appropriate channels for help. 7 Cups is not a crisis hotline. The best thing our community can do to support you is to refer you to get help through the appropriate channels for help: 1-800-273-8255 or www.suicide.org*
Getting excited! The chat will begin in 10 minutes!
yaaayyy!! 
suicide is a complicated theme - how do you plan to challenge it?
Is advertising on TV, online and mental health awareness helping reduce the stigma on suicides or sucidal attempts or is there still more to be done? What can we do to reduce the stigma?
This is a good question and thought as I think it is hard to change the way television and movies deal with suicide-but on social media I think we can all do a lot to counteract posts about suicide that blame people and to educate people about how common an issue it is.
Hello everyone! And welcome to this live AMA in honor of Suicide Prevention Day! We are very lucky to have @drjennifercrumlish leading our discussion today. We will start be posting a few of the previously submitted questions!
You may ask your questions in real time too. Make sure to view the posting guidelines in the introduction thread & listed above!
Welcome!
Note: Due to the sensitivity of the topic, some questions may be deleted.
great thank you:)
Thank you for arranging this AMA Laura :) We all appreciate your hard work and dedication!!
How can I help myself, having lost my only sister to suicide? How does one deal with it in a healthy and effective way without falling apart?
Dear Peaceful Soul
I think losing a loved one to suicide is very difficult and can feel very isolating. When I've worked with people who have lost someone to suicide, they often mention how hard it is as it feels like there is still a lot of stigma attached to it. There are also so many feelings, from feeling so sad and missing the person to feeling angry and upset with the person. I'm a member of the American Association of Suicidology, they have a section specifically for survivors, I would encourage you to check it out as there are lots of resources that might be helpful.
Here's a direct link to that resource Dr. Crumlish mentioned: Loss Survivors
Hello everyone, it's really nice to be here with you today and be able to talk to you and answer your questions.
Welcome ! We are thrilled to have you!
Thank you for coming out to answer community questions!! :)
We sincerely appreciate it <3
It's great to have you! Thank you for being here
@DrJenniferCrumlish--it's great to have you here! Thank you!
thank you very much!:)
Questions from the community which have been pre-selected:
How do I discuss suicide with people who don't understand it?
This is a great question! I think that there are still lots of people who blame people who have suicidal thoughts, they think, "what's the matter with that person" or "they should just get a grip!" What we know about people who have suicidal thoughts, feelings and behaviors is that they are often in a lot of emotional (and sometimes physical pain) and feel desperate about their situation, like nothing is ever going to change. As a result, they feel like they want to escape the pain and this becomes a reasonable way to get out, in their mind. It's hard to imagine how much someone would be suffering to think that being dead would be better than being alive, but that is often the case. Being compassionate about this problem goes a long way!
hey my question, and thank you for doing this first off. my question is alot of members say its against their religion to commit suicide but that a family member did commit it. what are your views on religion and suicide?
oops sorry
I think the issue with religion is a tricky one-for some people, being a spiritual person and having faith in a higher power or a path can be very protective-meaning it is a resource of support for someone in a crisis. However, there are some religious traditions that tend to be a bit more structured in their rules and beliefs and feel that suicide is really a negative thing that doesn't seem respectful of the faith and of God. I think being compassionate about suffering, which is an important part of all faith traditions, may be a middle ground that many people of faith can believe in.
Questions from the community which have been pre-selected:
How are suicide statistics made?
