Ability to refer people in need of psychological support to established resources

Good evening, everyone.

I would like to discuss with all of you who are interested in the development of our community and the morale of its members, an important aspect that is responsible for the quality of the contingent itself (I realize, rough expression, rather dry statistical) and the atmosphere, motivation, proactivity and feedback (word of mouth, project development).

An important fact of the positive impact on the condition of a person is first of all the encouragement of the people around him and the people who care for him - encouragement to continue.

Iā€™m sure many have heard not once reproaches that they spend too much time behind monitors, in some kind of their own world ā€¦ everything changes if it is definitely useful, if it makes a significant contribution, if it is something constructive.

Some forum members are having a very hard time, Iā€™m sure those who are having a terrible life, we donā€™t even know, they keep it all to themselves.

I will add one important remark at the end of the introductory message.
Whatever the implementation, in my opinion it should be a confidential communication with certified specialists.
Peopleā€™s psychological health is at stake, their future is at stake.

The future of their families.

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If people need such help, they should reach out to professionals, not random people on a random forum.

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This is an excellent point, which is why it would be beneficial for the forum to provide a link to the aforementioned resources.

It is not uncommon for individuals to be left to cope with their problems without seeking guidance from a specialist. In many cases, individuals are unaware of the importance of seeking professional assistance.

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I would be inclined to agree with that because there can be many conditions which form a particular situation in a person and itā€™s not something we are trained to deal with.

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I understand your position of responsibility.
How about the fact that we are definitely willing to always advise to go to a professional, they serve their craft by taking the hippocratic oath.

We, on the other hand, are not directing this flow of ā€œsufferingā€ with any degree of confidence at the moment.

See where I am going with this?

There are already existing helplines people can use.
Here are some American ones:

There is a much larger list here: Mental Health Helplines: International Directory

You do not have to be actively suicidal or anything to call them for support.

LineageOS and derivatives such as CalyxOS and DivestOS also have many country-specific helplines available in their Phone app from the top right drop down menu.

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I believe this information is a crucial element of my topic.
If it is not an inconvenience, I would like to continue the dialogue and reserve the right to make a decision on the solution.

I wonder if it might be helpful to consider a proposal that would allow us to refer to a thorough discussion while reading posts from people whose condition may be disturbing or hint at emotional instability or damage.

I would like to reiterate that there is no intention to monetize this thread or replace the invaluable work of medical professionals.

It has come to my attention that there is a significant unmet need, often related to deeply personal experiences, that could be addressed effectively through a structured approach involving qualified professionals.

In such a case, referring to the right topic can give a person a choice from the real professionals you mention, while emphasizing that this is not just personal advice but a collective stance, this will encourage people not to overlook important aspects.

Single instances of proper advice are fine.
I would love to channel the whole stream and maximize the potential of such psychological inquiry.

Honestly this sounds like a terrible idea, this is a forum about privacy and itā€™s aspects and the suggestion that unqualified people should start telling random anonymous people on the forum to get professional help based off of their non-professional opinion from something they posted is a poor idea and not at all what I would want to visit these forums for.

If people need help, there are a lot of resources to get that help, but I donā€™t think any of that has to do with privacy in this capacity or what the group on these forums is trying to accomplish, itā€™s a highly private and personal subject that no one here has any reason to be involved in, with regards to any other member of the forum.

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Hi. I realize that personal experience and lack of knowledge can be damaging, have you ever considered that the person who suggested redirecting the flow of people with soul tormenting disorders might come from someone who had a medical degree?

Seeking help from established professionals or organizations such as the one mentioned by @SkewedZeppelin
is often possible in an anonymous format, which raises the threshold of entry and takes away the embarrassment of talking about the problem.

You must have read the course of my thoughts without proper attention, because no one here is talking about giving advice or taking on the work of stabilizing the psychological state of a person.
I think the previous headline may have misled you.
For this reason, my new format has been more clearly worded.

I have seen in my life how real specialists save people, sometimes they find each other not by chance.

A member of my family saved many people at the surgical table, I was fortunate in long discussions at least a little understanding of the philosophy that helped him to do good and leave a mark on our planet.

Issues of privacy and confidentiality can be related to emotional wear and tear, in sports they would call it part of the game, like injuries in athletes.

I think it would be wise to move from discussion mode, to understanding whether my initiative makes sense in light of the clearer wording of the title.

Does the forum need the ability to refer people in need of psychological support to established resources?
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

The other main issue is that recommending any third party organizations which deal with this kind of stuff will require individual vetting, not just some random post on the forum saying ā€œadd this organizationā€ etc.

We donā€™t want to do that.

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To be honest, I just donā€™t see the connection between privacy and/or our community and the need for professional emotional or psychological support.

Of course in any population there will be some people in need of these resources, but Iā€™m not sure why we specifically need to be the ones to address this.

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fwiw 988 is coordinated/endorsed by HHS/SAMHSA (of USA.gov) and they actually have extremely thorough documentation of their standards/guidelines, including extensive technical security measures and data collection procedures: https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/saving-lives-american-988-quality-service-plan.pdf

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All the responses and the post from OP here read like they were generated from A.I. and it reasonably makes me question the legitimacy of this post and the responses.

In other words, I donā€™t buy it since this is clearly a wrong place to ask.

Even if you search this on any search engine, youā€™ll get better results than asking random people here.

Anyways, thatā€™s what I think. Iā€™ve needed help too but unless youā€™re 15 years old, I find it hard to believe to not know where to get help.

I donā€™t mean to disparage a genuine ask so please donā€™t read my comment as such but I do stand by my highly opinionated statements.

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Hi. This is a translation, I have local translation enabled in DeepL with history saving for situations like this. I think literal turns from Russian can give this impression, I didnā€™t use formatting from ā€œset toneā€ or ā€œspecify styleā€ functionality.

Good morning Jonah and Dngray.
Let me try to explain my train of thought based on the context of your recent posts.

As far as I understand with a high degree of probability you are both in the USA, the jurisdiction in which Privacy Guides operates is the USA?

Discourse is also apparently subject to and part of the US system.
Hence, it is possible to recommend organizations and hotlines that are approved by the government itself.

I think in this case, the following statements cannot be applied to them


The connection is very strong.
Especially on the Internet and in particular in online communities where the very purpose and ideology is the ā€œhow to hideā€ ā€œgo privateā€ methodology.

It will sound rude and perhaps I should have chosen a better expression, but many people come to such resources already ā€œoffendedā€, ā€œbeatenā€ by something or someone.
Anything can play the role of an abuser, from a person, big data corporation to a figment of imagination and obsession.

A mere coincidence could be a sign from above, I regularly study the American press and this morning I was struck by an article from the Washington Post.

That doesnā€™t mean that the situations have to be one in the same.
But I think you can see what stress, harassment and mental problems, coupled with a lack of psychologists and competent support, shutting oneā€™s eyes can lead to.

Only Iā€™m in the USA.

Iā€™m not sure, Iā€™ll have to think about this more and get back to you.

Reading this thread, I commend OPā€™s concerns about the mental health of people in the privacy community, but I donā€™t understand what OP is proposing. I donā€™t think we, as psychology-unqualified people who know each other only by reading each othersā€™ posts, should attempt to identify people who may be under distress and refer them to professional services, if thatā€™s what OP is proposing.

I have a few general questions about this topic. How do people in the privacy community seek professional help, whatever it may be, without exposing themselves to more surveillance? Which particular services, in all phases of engaging with them, are privacy/anonymity friendly? Which particular services understand and best serve the needs of people who highly value privacy? Lastly, what should the role of this community be in relation to this topic?

I have not explored these kinds of support services, but some things about many popular services rub me the wrong way. Some services claim people can reach out anonymously but they donā€™t provide any anonymous method let alone E2EE, just phone, Facebook Messenger etc. On top of that, your call might be recorded. I wonder how many services can be contacted by Session or SimpleX. I wonder about privacy risks of consultations in jurisdictions where psychology and mental health are in scope of the medical system and medical privacy has been or will likely soon be lost.

I donā€™t want to scare people away from seeking help. I just think itā€™s worth exploring how people who value privacy can safely seek help, and identifying competent privacy-respecting support services.

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Good afternoon.
I think the expression identify, itā€™s a proactive term that implies actions that boldly fall into the category of requiring expertise and medical knowledge, itā€™s a vulnerable place.

Letā€™s exclude it like this, people often self-declare their pain, sometimes in the form of posts about leaving the forum and that they can no longer continue on ā€œthis pathā€.

Sometimes people seek help because they get deanonymized and ddoxed online and stay in fear and worry, they are frightened to tell their loved ones and feel anxious.

By taking away the responsibility for actions that involve identifying pathology, we can only be attentive to what is written in black and white by the individual.

That explains why. Iā€™m sorry to say, some of OPā€™s posts Iā€™ve seen are cryptic, not only in this thread.

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