Super-negative user
How do people interact w/users whose sole purpose seems to be to complain? I had one who literally shot down every suggestion I had for him/her, and when I tried to refer him/her to a professional therapist, accused me of being a bot and hung up.
@LordLovelorn
when i offer a suggestion and theyre not interested i ask why and listen to why it wont work that way you are getting more information about them so your next suggestion will be better theres nothing wrong with them theyre just telling you the truth it wont work if they get frustrated you can tell them you dont really know the situation you just met them you have no idea whats going on unless they tell you so you know ... referring to a therapist first ask if they are even interested in connecting with a therapist here dont just refer them without asking how they feel about it and talking to them about the idea
Yes, sometimes people just need to complain. It's their sole purpose, as you have noticed. As listeners, our purpose is not to fight them. Our purpose is to listen. If that means listening to complaints, then we listen to complaints.
It sounds like you felt you should come up with suggestions. Why? To solve some problem or other? Listeners are not here to solve people's problems.
On the first page of our training, "Introduction to Active Listening", it says:
Active Listening is not:
× Trying to solve the person
@LordLovelorn Isn't that a huge purpose of this site? For people to be able to vent about issues and to have someone actively listen while they do so.
I'm confused as to why you seem to take issue with this. That doesn't make someone 'super negative'' either, it can be a healthy way of dealing with negative thoughts and emotions, not just stuffing them down and ignoring them.