Hi loblolly. Welcome to the forum, by the way. What follows is absolutely without judgement on my part, but just something to think about with your suicide attempt and subsequent hospitalization......loblolly wrote:As far as buying my gun, I bought it through a dealer and answered no to being involuntarily commited. I very honestly did not think about it when I filled out the form-its so far in my past. I am certain that I signed myself in to the hospital; however, the application states even a voluntary stay at a psychiatric facility is a disqualification unless I can prove I am now fine. Like I said, it was a lifetime ago for me. I am willing to do what I need to do b/c at this time, I hesitate to hike, camp, ride my horses or bike alone in remote areas and I want a sense of security (even if it is a false sense of security). Im a small female and know Im no match physically for the average sized man.
So, does anyone know of a good second ammendment supporting psychiatrist in the north houston area?
I don't know what they call it here in Texas, but when I worked in a large ER back in California there was a thing called a 5150. If a patient arrived in our ER having made an attempt on their life, or having attempted to hurt someone else during a psychotic episode, they would be examined by whatever mental health professional was on call for that shift. If that patient was deemed to still be a risk of harm to themselves or others, they would be put on a "5150," which means that they are placed on a 72 hour psychiatric hold and moved to a psychiatric facility for further observation and treatment. If 72 hours is not enough time to get them through that crisis, or the mental illness is more profound, then the psychiatrist in charge of the case can extend the psychiatric hold for another 15 days. Once that 15 days is passed, then the patient must either be released, or hospitalized/institutionalized for long term care.
The point of all this is that I have seen many 5150 patients who were cooperative with what was happening to them, and even wanted the intervention and were glad that the system was responding to their need, BUT, they were not being "voluntarily" committed. That particular decision was entirely in the hands of the mental health professional managing their case, and the person under threat of 5150 had no say whatsoever in it. I am assuming that Texas has some similar psychiatric instrument for the managing of acute psychiatric episodes in an emergency room. If that is the case, you may very well remember your commission as voluntary because you wanted the help, but in the end the decision wasn't yours to make, and that might be the difference between eligible and not eligible.
Best of luck and blessings to you. I certainly hope that this all works out well for you. For what it's worth, my experience is that people who really want to die succeed in doing it. All the rest are just trying to get help, and they're desperate and don't know how else to get the attention/help they need. But they don't truly want to die. Having had two successful suicides happen in my life in recent years, this is a painful subject for me. One of them was a long time friend and my employer who killed himself in late 2007. The other is a distant family member of mine who killed himself just a week ago.
