There are lines. Please stop crossing them.

[seanan_mcguire]

When I posted about depression, I said that I was giving myself comment amnesty; I said that I might not (probably would not) read the comments.

Since then, people have contacted me via email (when they had it), via my old email (which I rarely check), via my contact form, via Facebook, and via my Tumblr, to give me their phone numbers, to tell me not to hurt myself (which I did not threaten to do), to provide crisis hotlines, to make suggestions about medication (which I did not solicit), and in one case, to threaten to report me to the police as a suicide risk if I did not update my blog immediately to show that I was still alive.

Please. Stop. "Comment amnesty" did not mean "work harder to make sure that your words, your well wishes, your specific need to engage with my depression will be heard." I try to keep open dialogs on this blog, and I usually appreciate communication, but right now, this contact is intrusive, and upsetting, and seems to prioritize the needs of the contacting person above mine. Please. Stop.

This is why I do not talk when I am sad.

Comments

[emerald-ibis.livejournal.com]

I am sorry that people are doing this to you. I did not get the impression that you were unhappy or in danger when you wrote it. I saw that you were stepping up and talking bravely about the pain that you'd been dealing with for the last year or two. I saw hope for yourself and for everyone that the coming year would hold light, peace and happiness for all.

Strange as it may sound, it made *me* feel better about dealing with my own problems. I, too, have been struggling for the last year with similar feelings and it's hard. It makes me afraid that people like you will stop being open about dealing with such problems. There needs to be *more* dialogue about mental illness, not less.

I want you to know that the things that you write are on my own list. "I must stay alive," I tell myself. "I must find out what happens with Toby and Tybalt/read Rose's book/meet Alex Price and find out what's going on with Sarah, Verity and Dominic."

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Making other people feel better is most of why I opened my virtual mouth. Thank you.