No, it's not closed ralop, and it is a very important topic to discuss. :}

ralop, that's a very powerful and helpful read, thank you. The program of AA gave me gifts to stay sober and gain awareness SO I became able to see areas of my life that needed further attention. Even later on in sobriety, when a past event long forgotten came up, I knew it was time to get help, and I knew I had to do so for my own sanity.

If I didn't reach out and get the counselling needed, the potential for it to consume me was very real. I needed to take responsibility for my life and seek out help so that did not happen. I'm grateful for the knowledge gained in sobriety to be able to continue taking action when needed.

I just feel an important "urgency tug" in my gut, & heart of hearts with this issue. Most especially after watching more than a handful or two of sober members take their lives, & the lives of others with them, after being bullied about doctor prescribed psych meds & other types of meds too.
They were being told that taking these medications, even as prescribed, makes them not sober & they should change their sobriety dates. They were told if they just worked it harder, or better, or with the right sponsor, etc. etc. they wouldn't feel the way they feel.
I've seen & heard these misinformed & mistaken ideas too often in the 23 years I have been involved in AA. I even questioned myself to the point of self inflicted psychological & emotional abuse when it came time to have to take prescribed medications in sobriety because of what I heard, from members in the rooms of AA I trusted knew what they were telling me, & because of fear of my inability to control my use & drinking before recovery.
What I learned thru my experience is I can take medications as prescribed & I am okay. I have a solid recovery program and have built up a support network of people in recovery to whom I may look for help any day, anytime.
Yet even more importantly, I have a quality relationship & conscious contact with a Power larger than myself on a daily basis where I receive the Grace which relieves me of the compulsion & the insidious chatter which used to be in my head whenever I thought about, or had to use booze or medications before recovery.
The voice of my disease which used to tell me, " if this amount is good, then more must be better."
I haven't found it necessary to put alcohol in my body for 13 yrs now, come July 5th, 2010, & so I do not suffer from the allergy of the body which was created when ever alcohol hit my blood stream.
I am so blessed & find Grace bestowed upon me many times throughout each & every day I live in recovery, if I but just look for evidence of it.

One of the things I've found to be constantly true throughout these years is, "I always to find what I am looking for."

So, as was voiced before by others here on our site of support, please do not take medical advice from anyone except your doctor. If you are feeling depressed or even worse, please seek out competent professional help.

In my experience, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Even members with the medication, 12 step, Spiritual, & counsel resistant varieties of depression are are able to survive many, fairly happy, meaningful, and productive years.
I've found that some things DO NOT PASS, as the slogan says. Yet many of us learn to live with serious issues which do not go away. Time takes time, and life is not easy.
I'm not someone who has the ability to, "Live Life on Life's Terms."

However; I have found I can, "Live Life on God's Terms."

I must Keep this Power Greater than myself ever so close. I must be vigilant with my conscious contact or I do become irritable, restless, & discontented, which leads me into depression, thought, & behavior process from my past which do not serve to better my ability to live a quality life in recovery.
Even those of us with mental and emotional problems can & do recover, if we but have the guts to learn to be rigorously honest with ourselves, other human beings, & Power Greater than ourselves!!
I know this is a long winded reply to my own post, but it is so important to me.
Recovery & sobriety hasn't brought me an easier time at life. In fact it has become more difficult in many respects. But, with the program & everything I've added to it in respect to help from outside professionals & many other new & healthy tools I've gathered along the way, I am better equipped to deal with all that life hands me without taking a drink or mind altering substance to get out of my own body & reality.
This is what I was promised when I first got here, & nothing more. A book to read with directions & a road map for living life, thru which I would find a Power Greater than myself who would do for me what I could not do for myself.
I haven't been dropped on my head in 23 years & I don't expect I ever will. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

In Love, Light, Truth, & Service,
"Stubborn T"
ralop

ST, I hear how passionate you are about this. Knew 2 people who committed suicide years ago. Both sober. Both in their 20s. One had OCD, the other depression. Neither wanted to take meds because of what was suggested by their sponsors. How very sad!!! Thank God that is not the NORM these days. But it still exists...

A woman recently shared that she is claustrophobic and had to have an enclosed MRI done. She panicked. In order for her to be still in the machine, which is absolutely necessary, they had to give her a valium. Her sponsor made her change her sobriety date. Bull shit I say to that.

I agree that no one in the rooms should play doctor or God. People's lives and minds are at stake here. Better to leave it up to professionals.

~Chris

So there is a girl on the other thread saying she is going to kill herself. How is that handled on here? I am at a loss. I believe she is in a different country and her parents should be notified it would seem. But how? And who? And do we even know her? I have no clue how to handle this internet communication stuff.

Ideas?

Btw-I posted publicly about this as I would like her to read that this is very serious-and folks could call the police and her parents for this type of statement.

KK, there is a lot you can do. You can reach out to her on her thread and ask if she's okay. DS is an anonymous forum, and personal details are not known, so as members, unless we know the person, we lack the resources to follow-up on suicide threats. The best we can do is reach out, and forward hotline information to someone in need.

Such truthfull, and very sincere words. Thank you so much. We do need this. All the best. James

Yes, that is all we can do I guess. It is hard for me to read suicide threats and not actually CALL or contact someone (the former social worker in me).

Such is the nature of a chat board-hard when young ones seem so lost.

I may have sounded like a very cold hearted person on the last post about suicide. Its just that I have had to deal with this subject all my life. from my grandma to my mom to many friends. I have heard them say they wanted to die so manytimes I guess I just shut down to the pain. More then once friends went through with it and I was the one there to have to pick up the pieces. holding there children while they cryed so hard asking me why? and I had no logical reason to give them.So I still stick with my opinion that it is a selfish thing to do. yes even I have let it cross my mind. but then I did think of what it would do to those I loved and I put there feelings first.I deeply feel for anyone that is at such a dark place to even think that way.but there is help for you out there.please reach out and take it.we can all look back at times in are life when death seemed like the only excape.but thinking back we got through it.then think of all the good you have experieced past that tragic time.would it really have been worth loosing your life?Its always dark before the dawn.

Just adding my plug, again, for those who struggle with both addictions and mental illness, there is a subgroup called dual diagnosis, where we can talk about things like this as well.

I am not "allowed" to discuss my mental illness in most of my meetings and have dropped 2 that have blatantly told me not to discuss it and that I should not be taking meds. I wrote an article for our local AA newsletter about medication, with quotes directly from AA literature and not only was it not published, the person who asked me to write on "anything that has to do with my recovery" won't even look at me. She inadvertently sat next to me at our anniversary breakfast, (I was serving so wasn't sitting) and would not even look or say hello.

Sorry for the rant here, but I just got back on after a week away and feel like I'm ready to explode with stuff!

Love all,
Karen

I enjoyed your share, thank you!! Suicide is real! Some succeed others don't, I am one that did not succeed. My Higher Power was indeed watching over me, I am grateful today!! Gratitude for each sober day.

hey aloneinarizona - dont let anyone tell you that you are not sober because you are taking prescribed medications for depression.

There is a very good AA leaflet called The AA member: Medications and Other Drugs which is very helpful whether one is in AA or not and helps to make clear the difference between using and abusing medications.

It is not for anyone to tell someone that they should not be taking medication prescribed by their doctor.

WOW! Cabledude??? I thought A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous, I believe that means members, groups etc, has NO Opinion on this issue??? I believe the Big Book Of Alcoholics Anonymous does indeed address this issue more than once in it's program of recovery, (First 164 pages), not to mention the Doctors Opinion before the basic text has begun. We cooperate yet do not affiliate, and do this without, Judgement upon the issue, as we will get lost with the red herring, and lose sight of our primary purpose which is to help the still suffering alcoholic to find a power greater than themselves which can "solve the drink problem." We are here to show precisely how we do this, not to lay in judgement of any member's other medical issues or what their doctors suggest as possible soluutions to their medical issues. I am not a doc, I am not a pharmacist, I am not a psychiatrist or a LCSW, I am simply a member in good standing for many years who has found the suggested program of action to have worked in solving the drink problem for me, It was suggested to me by my sponsor that we do not give advice on any part of another's life. . I hope we can be open minded enough not rush into 'contempt prior to investigation', or actual personal experience which has no relative info for any one but our own selves and our own bodies, not for anyone else. I am exhausted so off to sleep for me... I don't sleep much these days and gotta get it when I can
Please be responsible, and accountable for the suggestions we give away here, kind, gentle, well educated and experienced suggestions, as the quality and people's very lives are at stake here.
I would certainly feel horrific if I were to have my personal shared experience to have an adverse or even deadly effect upon.someone else. It is too easy for someone to think they have all the information they need to make a judgement call about someone else's actual experience. This simply is not possible as we are all individual people with different reactions to most everything. One human may have a completely different experience with the same disease, or medication, or fill in the blank if you will. the most dangerous thing I feel, is if I believe I know whats right or best for another when I have never experienced what they are experiencing. Same goes for if I believe what has worked or not worked for me will work or not work for someone else. It' impossible for me to know this, simply impossible..
Again I say, I usually find exactly what ever it is I am looking for, ie if I am looking for an arguement I will find one, if looking for someone to answer a question with a yes, I will keep asking people until I find someone who'll answer the way I want them to.
In Love Light Truth & Service,
Stubborn T
Ralop

Amen, Ralop!