GREAT NEWS FROM TUMBLR TODAY - WE ARE THRILLED TO SEE THIS FORWARD-THINKING POLICY FROM THE TUMBLR STAFF GO INTO EFFECT. 

Below is the proposed change to Tumblr’s Content Policy:

Active Promotion of Self-Harm. Don’t post content that actively promotes or glorifies self-injury or self-harm. This includes content that urges or encourages readers to cut or mutilate themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, e.g., seek counseling or treatment for depression or other disorders. Online dialogue about these acts and conditions is incredibly important; this prohibition is intended to reach only those blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification. For example, joking that you need to starve yourself after Thanksgiving or that you wanted to kill yourself after a humiliating date is fine, but recommending techniques for self-starvation or self-mutilation is not.

♡♥♡ LOVE OUT LOUD WANTS TO EXTEND A HUGE THANK YOU TO TUMBLR FOR TAKING PRECAUTIONS THAT WILL HELP TO CURB THIS IMMENSELY IMPORTANT ISSUE. EVEN IF YOU FEEL COMPELLED TO POST TRIGGERING PICTURES, THEY COULD HAVE PROFOUND, DAMAGING, EVEN LIFE-THREATENING EFFECTS ON SOMEONE ELSE WHO IS VULNERABLE BECAUSE OF A MENTAL ILLNESS LIKE DEPRESSION, WHICH DRAMATICALLY INCREASES ONE’S RISK OF EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR. EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T INTEND IT TO IMPACT SOMEONE ELSE SO SEVERELY, SEEING SOMEONE POST ABOUT ENDING THEIR LIFE CAN ENCOURAGE SOMEONE WHO IS FEELING HOPELESS TO DO THE SAME. TUMBLR HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DO SO MUCH GOOD. PLEASE THINK ABOUT THIS POLICY CHANGE WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK AND AN OPEN MIND—WE ARE SINCERELY SORRY IF YOU ARE HURTING OR FEEL LIKE YOU CAN’T GO ON ANY LONGER, BUT POSTING PHOTOS OF SELF-HARM OR TALKING ABOUT SUICIDE IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO HEALTHY BEHAVIOR. THIS IS A WONDERFUL CHANGE, AND WE HOPE IT ENCOURAGES YOU TO SPREAD HOPE INSTEAD OF SADNESS ♡♥♡

(Source: healinghope, via dailyreasontobehappy)

As if Facebook didn’t give us enough reasons to love it already, it is with great pride that the Love Out Loud Campaign posts this link: Facebook’s chat service will now allow for people experiencing suicidal thoughts to connect with counselors who can help. Thank you, Facebook, for taking such an impressive step to help prevent suicide ♡

“The program, which launched Tuesday, lets friends alert Facebook when users express suicidal thoughts, reports The Associated Press. If your friend posts a comment related to suicide, for instance, you can report it to Facebook by clicking a link next to the comment. Facebook will then send an email to the comment’s author directing them to a telephone hotline or a link they can click to start a confidential chat. Facebook reps could not be reached for comment on the program, which was identified as “Lifeline.”

Share this link. You never know when one of your Facebook friends will encounter a suicidal friend, and this could save their life. Make sure that everyone knows about the implementation of this wonderful program.

theres-power-in-numbers:

 

You can increase the chances that a distraction/substitution will help calm the urge to self- injure by matching what you do to how you are feeling at the moment.

First, take a few moments and look behind the urge. What are you feeling? Are you angry? Frustrated? Restless? Sad? Craving the feeling of SI? Depersonalized and unreal or numb? Unfocused? Next, match the activity to the feeling. A few examples:

• Angry, frustrated, restless 
  (These strategies work better sometimes if you talk to the object you are cutting/ tearing/ hitting. Start slowly, explaining why you’re hurt and angry. It’s okay if you end up ranting or yelling; it can help a lot to vent feelings that way.) 
  Try something physical and violent, something not directed at a living thing:
  
  • Slash an empty plastic soda bottle or a piece of heavy cardboard or an old shirt or sock.
  • Make a soft cloth doll to represent the things you are angry at. Cut and tear it instead of yourself.
  • Flatten aluminum cans for recycling, seeing how fast you can go.
  • Hit a punching bag.
  • Use a pillow to hit a wall, pillow-fight style.
  • Rip up an old newspaper or phone book.
  • On a sketch or photo of yourself, mark in red ink what you want to do. Cut and tear the picture.
  • Make Play-Doh or Sculpey or other clay models and cut or smash them.
  • Get a few packages of Silly-Putty or some physical therapy putty and squeeze it, bounce it off a wall, stretch it and then snap it.
  • Throw ice into the bathtub or against a brick wall hard enough to shatter it.
  • Break sticks.
  • Crank up some music and dance.
  • Clean your room (or your whole house).
  • Go for a walk/ jog/ run.
  • Stomp around in heavy shoes.
  • Play handball or tennis.
• Sad, soft, melancholy, depressed, unhappy
  • Do something slow and soothing, like taking a hot bath with bath oil or bubbles, curling up under a comforter with hot cocoa and a good book, babying yourself somehow.
  • Do whatever makes you feel taken care of and comforted.
  • Light sweet-smelling incense.
  • Listen to soothing music.
  • Smooth nice body lotion into the parts of yourself you want to hurt.
  • Call a friend and just talk about things that you like.
  • Make a tray of special treats and tuck yourself into bed with it and watch TV or read.
  • Visit a friend.
• Craving sensation, feeling depersonalized, dissociating, feeling unreal 
  Do something that creates a sharp physical sensation:
  • Squeeze ice hard (this really hurts). (Note: putting ice on a spot you want to burn gives you a strong painful sensation and leaves a red mark afterward, kind of like burning would.)
  • Put a finger into a frozen food (like ice cream) or put ice, water, and salt in a pitcher and put your hand in it for a few seconds.
  • Bite into a hot pepper or chew a piece of gingerroot.
  • Rub liniment under your nose.
  • Slap a tabletop hard.
  • Snap your wrist with a rubber band.
  • Take a cold bath.
  • Stomp your feet on the ground.
  • Focus on how it feels to breathe. Notice the way your chest and stomach move with each breath.
• Wanting focus
  • Do a task (a computer game like Tetris, writing a computer program, needlework, etc.) that is exacting and requires focus and concentration.
  • Eat a raisin mindfully. Pick it up, noticing how it feels in your hand. Look at it carefully; see the asymmetries and think about the changes the grape went through. Roll the raisin in your fingers and notice the texture; try to describe it. Bring the raisin up to your mouth, paying attention to how it feels to move your hand that way. Smell the raisin; what does it remind you of? How does a raisin smell? Notice that you’re beginning to salivate, and see how that feels. Open your mouth and put the raisin in, taking time to think about how the raisin feels to your tongue. Chew slowly, noticing how the texture and even the taste of the raisin change as you chew it. Are there little seeds or stems? How is the inside different from the outside? Finally, swallow.
  • Choose an object in the room. Examine it carefully and then write as detailed a description of it as you can. Include everything: size, weight, texture, shape, color, possible uses, feel, etc.
  • Choose a random object, like a paper clip, and try to list 30 different uses for it.
  • Pick a subject and research it on the web.
• Wanting to see blood
  • Draw on yourself with a red felt-tip pen.
  • Take a small bottle of liquid red food coloring and warm it slightly by dropping it into a cup of hot water for a few minutes. Uncap the bottle and press its tip against the place you want to cut. Draw the bottle in a cutting motion while squeezing it slightly to let the food color trickle out.
  • Draw on the areas you want to cut using ice that you’ve made by dropping six or seven drops of red food color into each of the ice-cube tray wells.
  • Paint on yourself with red tempera paint or a red lip-liner pen.
• Wanting to see scars or pick scabs
  • Get a henna tattoo kit. You put the henna on as a paste and leave it overnight; the next day you can pick it off as you would a scab and it leaves an orange-red mark behind.

Another thing that helps sometimes is the fifteen-minute game. Tell yourself that if you still want to harm yourself in 15 minutes, you can. When the time is up, see if you can go another 15.

To learn more, go to:

http://www.selfinjury.org/docs/selfhelp.html

It’s wonderful to see many people within the Tumblr community who also believe in the same messages as the Love Out Loud Campaign. Read, remember and belive:

themagicofneverland:

There is so much more to enjoy.

More sunsets and sunrises, more garden tomatoes, more films, more food, more friendships, more creative pursuits, perhaps some travel, more books, more, more, more, more… .

Each person is valuable.

Each individual is filled with promise. Each human being has a multitude of gifts to share with the world. This is true even when we’re uncertain as to our purpose and abilities at any given time. It will come—with courage, persistence, and patience.

Suicide lays waste to the value, promise, and gifts one has to share. Forever.

There are more smiles yet to enjoy.

There is much more laughter to embrace.

Suicide hurts everyone.

It does not aid anyone.

Living on offers so many possibilities.

There are so many angles of life to watch unfold. There are many, many stories-in-progress (including our own) to follow. What will happen by 2001 or 2015—to family and friends, to the neighborhood, to the nation? What will be discovered about our illness and other poorly-understood medical problems? Will Liam Neeson and Will Smith still be making movies? Will I be symptom-free? Will the Phillies make it to another World Series? Will I be able to be more physically active? Will we finally elect a woman as President of the U.S.? Will I have less oppressive daily “flu” symptoms? Will my children have children? Will parts of California be lost under the sea? Will I be able to resume gainful employment? Will UConn continue to foster powerhouse women’s and men’s basketball teams? I want to know how zillions of stories unfold. More importantly, I want to be around to observe, reflect, and participate—in whatever ways are open to me. We all are a part of many stories.

Do not confuse living with doing.

Life is also be-ing. A rich life is possible even in the midst of dismal symptoms. (Read M. Scott Peck’s book, “A Bed By The Window.”)
 
Disability rights activists have several slogans, one of which labels Kevorkian a “serial killer.” 
Another is a dog tag which requests that “no expense be spared” to keep you alive. The philosophical and political slants are readily apparent. It is wrong to judge a person as “unfit” to live because of horrific, ugly, painful illnesses. Don’t succumb to false images of what it means to lead a “normal” life. Find strength and inspiration in the stories of so many severely disabled persons who courageously pursue life’s challenges and joys. Get mad. Get angry.

One of the notions that the Love Out Loud Campaign is founded upon is the importance of open communication about mental health, eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide when it comes to helping at risk-college students. One way to approach the concept of suicide that can be helpful for those who feel suicidal is to think of it as a cut-and-dry medical condition - WHICH IT IS!  That point can’t be stressed enough.

Someone who was diagnosed with diabetes would never consider keeping their condition a secret from loved ones and friends, or opt out of medication that can eradicate the symptoms of mental illnesses and suicidal thoughts. If someone found out they had high blood pressure, they would most likely embrace the opportunity to take a prescription that keeps the side effects at bay so they can live a long, happy life.

But, because of the stigmas associated with mental illness and suicide, many at-risk individuals never speak up about how they’re feeling. It’s time they started to look at it like they are facing an illness that can be controlled with treatment; which, as was said, is 100 percent true!

Reach out to someone. Get help. You don’t have to do this alone. You have a long, happy life ahead of you, as well.

✩ Check out the link the important facts and figures about suicide ✩

(link & source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

twloha:

We hope that today is a good day, a day spent with family and friends and a day to pause with thanks. We know for some it’s not, or it’s simply not that simple.

To everyone heavy with the weight of things missing or fractured today,

It doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful or unthankful.

It only means you’re human.

And you’re not alone in that…

(via snowwithinthejungle)

Debunking myths about how to handle a suicidal loved one to help you feel comfortable in confronting a tough situation. For more information than what is listed here, follow the link to the full article by clicking on the title of this post. 

WHAT ARE THE WARNING SIGNS?

Conditions associated with increased risk of suicide

• Death or terminal illness of relative or friend
• Divorce, separation, broken relationship, stress on family
• Loss of health (real or imaginary)
• Loss of job, home, money, status, self-esteem, personal security.
• Alcohol or drug abuse 
  - About 50% of all suicide attempts involve alcohol/illegal drugs
  - About 25% percent of completed suicides occur among drug/alcohol abusers 
  - The suicide rate of people under 30 is increasing, largely because the percentage of people ages 30 and under is on the rise
  
• Depression
  - Youth: may be masked by hyperactivity or acting out behavior
  - Elderly: may be incorrectly attributed to the natural effects of aging - Depression that seems to quickly disappear for no apparent reason is cause for concern
  

  ✩ early stages of recovery from depression can be a high risk period

• Recent studies have associated anxiety disorders with increased risk for attempted suicide

Emotional and behavioral changes associated with suicide

• Overwhelming Pain: pain that threatens to exceed the person’s pain coping capacities. Suicidal feelings are often the result of longstanding problems that have been exacerbated by recent precipitating events. The precipitating factors may be new pain or the loss of pain coping resources.
• Hopelessness: the feeling that the pain will continue or get worse; things will never get better.
• Powerlessness: the feeling that one’s resources for reducing pain are exhausted.
• Feelings of worthlessness, shame, guilt, self-hatred, no one cares. Fears of losing control, harming self or others.
• Personality becomes sad, withdrawn, tired, apathetic, anxious, irritable, or prone to angry outbursts.
• Declining performance in school, work, or other activities. (Occasionally the reverse: someone who volunteers for extra duties because they need to fill up their time.)
• Social isolation; or association with a group that has different moral standards than those of the family or friend group.
• Declining interest in sex, friends, or activities previously enjoyed.
• Neglect of personal welfare, deteriorating physical appearance.
• Alterations in either direction in sleeping or eating habits.
• (Particularly in the elderly) Self-starvation, dietary mismanagement, disobeying medical instructions.
• Difficult times: holidays, anniversaries, and the first week after discharge from a hospital; just before and after diagnosis of a major illness; just before and during disciplinary proceedings. 

Suicidal Behavior

• Previous suicide attempts, mini-attempts.
• Explicit statements of suicidal ideation or feelings.
• Development of suicidal plan, acquiring the means, rehearsal behavior, setting a time for the attempt.
• Self-inflicted injuries, such as cuts, burns, or head banging.
• Reckless behavior. 
• Making out a will or giving away favorite possessions.
• Inappropriately saying goodbye.
• Verbal behavior that is ambiguous or indirect: “I’m going away on a real long trip.”, “You won’t have to worry about me anymore.”, “I want to go to sleep and never wake up.”, “I’m so depressed, I just can’t go on.”, “Does God punish suicides?”, “Voices are telling me to do bad things.”, requests for euthanasia information, inappropriate joking, stories or essays on morbid themes, etc. 

In honor of Veteran’s Day, we need to talk about another important angle of the issue of suicide in the U.S. 1 in 5 cases of suicide in America deal with veterans - men and women who have sacrificed their own freedom for the rest of us to enjoy freedom, who have put their lives on the line so that we can be safe, who have braved terrifying situations so we don’t have to be afraid. 

We need to support our veterans, uplift them in times of sadness and despair. They gave so much for us; we need to give back by creating a supportive community around them. This is very sad news, to see a vet take his own life on Veteran’s Day. 

Everyone, please think happy thoughts for our veterans everywhere. Let’s show our vets how appreciative we are for their service and sacrifice! 

Click here for more information about recovery, this time specifically for self injury. This information is relevant for mental illness and suicidal thoughts as well. You do not have to live with these conditions as long as you are willing to work toward recovering from them.

RECOVERY IS A PROCESS, NOT AN EVENT

(via spreadthepositivity-deactivated)