Mental Health Helpline

As long as you feel uncomfortable and can't find anyone to talk to, you can always call. It doesn't pick the size of your problem, doesn't charge a penny, and won't reveal your privacy. Even if you just want someone to listen to you complain about the wrong delivery of takeout today or the wrong sugar level in the milk tea, you can call. It's not a panacea that can solve all problems, but it must be the fastest emotional cushion you can grab at the moment.

When I was working as a hotline volunteer at the Municipal Mental Health Center, I encountered all kinds of calls: a senior high school girl who failed the mock exam called in at three in the morning. She cried for forty minutes and couldn't even speak a complete sentence clearly. The person who answered the call, Mr. Zhang, listened quietly the whole time. , and occasionally responded to express that she was there. In the end, the little girl sobbed and wiped her tears and said, "I feel much better after crying. I will go back and study the basic questions." After hanging up the phone, Teacher Zhang smiled: "She actually needs a place to cry without fear of disturbing others, and there is no need to give advice at all. ”

Of course, not everyone finds it useful. I have received a lot of private messages in the backend saying that calling the hotline only made them more panicked: Some people complained that the operator kept preaching, "You have to open it up if you want to." This matter really cannot be generalized. At present, the backgrounds of domestic public welfare hotline operators are quite different: there are registered psychologists who have been trained for many years, there are also students in the psychology department of universities, and there are also community volunteers who have received basic training. The orientations are also different - the operator with a humanistic orientation will only give you enough support and will not give you anything. If you have specific suggestions, those with a cognitive behavioral orientation may try to help you break down the current small problem. If you happen to want a solution but encounter an operator who only listens, you will naturally feel that it is useless. The same is true the other way around. You just want to find a place to cry quietly, but the other person will keep explaining to you and telling you what to do, which will definitely be uncomfortable.

My hands were shaking when I answered the first hotline call. The caller was a young man who had just lost his job. He said that he had been sitting on the overpass for half an hour and didn't know whether to call his parents to report that he was safe, because he was afraid that they would be worried. I followed what I learned in the training and said, "You must be having a hard time right now." As soon as I finished saying that, he started crying on the other end of the phone. After chatting for half an hour, he said, "It's okay, I'll go downstairs to have a bowl of hot noodles." After hanging up the phone, I shed tears myself. Really, many times you don't need the other party to give you any big ideas, just the fact that "your emotions are seen" is powerful enough.

Many people have a very deep misunderstanding about the hotline. They think "I don't have depression, is it too pretentious to call this?" This is really not the case. I met a retired man who called me to complain that the square dance downstairs was too noisy. His children thought he was too busy to listen and chatted with me for twenty minutes about what the Zhongzi dance was like when they were young. In the end, they died happily. ； I also met a mother who had just given birth and said that her husband was playing games in the living room. She sat in the bedroom for an hour holding her crying child, and she just wanted to find someone to say, "I'm really tired." There is no standard for "whether it's worth fighting or not." If you feel overwhelmed, that's the reason to fight.

Let’s talk about objective facts. Nowadays, official public welfare hotlines in various places are registered with the National Health Commission. All staff must sign a confidentiality agreement before connecting. If you don’t tell your name, address, or workplace, no one will know who you are, and no one will tell your story. You can rest assured about this. Of course, it also has its own limitations: a single connection is mostly limited to 30 to 50 minutes, and it cannot follow you to solve long-term emotional problems. If you cannot sleep well, cannot eat, have no interest in anything for more than two weeks in a row, or even cannot go to work and go to school normally, don't just rely on hotline calls. Go to an offline mental health center to see a doctor. It is not a shame to intervene.

Oh, by the way, if you really encounter an operator you can't talk to, just hang up and call again. Don't be embarrassed or wonder if you are too picky. Your feelings are the most important. If you feel your chest is congested while holding your cell phone, search your local psychological assistance hotline. Most of them are short numbers starting with 96 or 123. Just dial it. No one will laugh at you, really.