It's not appropriate for the professional to initiate the joke, but if the patient does, it's fine. I think jokes about 'it' from one, (for want of a better expression) self harmer to another is fine and kind of healthy as release.
I think it depends on the situation.
Well more on the patient than the situation. If a professional said a si related joke to me and it was funny I would most likely laugh and it would help relax me and make me feel more comfortable to talk to them, because they would seem less like a big scary stuck up stranger.
Professionals really shouldn't joke about it.......but I must admit that I'm guilty of joking around with it a few times, mostly to people who know what I do and stuff. There aren't meant to but hurtful or derogatory, humour is just a coping mechanism for me.
On the subject i went away and had a think about it. ANd here is al it's english essay like glory is what i think on the matter.
"He jests at scars that never felt a wound." Romeo - Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare.
I noticed this little snippet in my coursework scene and it made me think.
If you do SI in anyway shape or form, or have SIed, not that its a good think, but you've earnt the right to jest [joke] about it. Professionals . inless Siing or ex Siers have not earnt that right, and anyway it is a breach of their contract to do such a thing which can be classified as abuse. End of.
I don't think i have ever heard many jokes directly aimed and about self harm but i still don't think it is appropriate especially for professionals in front of young self harmers but i mean if people don't know much about self harm or know people around them might i would be like ooo your so insensitive etc Interesting questions
It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.
A professional doing that, especially in front of self-harmers is so out of order! Unless, of course, they were joking with them and not at them.
Although, when I heard "I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself" I did find it quite amusing. >_<
"When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”
Proffesionals need to be proffesional and keep their opinions to themseleves. I personally think it's wrong to make jokes about self harm and mental health in general.
If a professional is working when it is said then it's totally inappropriate. If they want to make jokes like that outside of work then that's fine, that's their personal opinion; But within the professional capacity they shouldn't make derogatory remarks/jokes about ANYTHING that may offend thier patients, especially if they are in the room.
Generally, self harm jokes don't bother me. A joke is a joke, it's there to make people laugh. If it's meant to hurt someone, or offend them ON PURPOSE then that's not acceptable...
Does this make sense?!!? xxx
Are we demented or am I disturbed?
The space that's in between insane and insecure...
its not appropiate - but i think that it is okay at times - depending what is said - because it can have a real point or it could be to make things less serious or difficult, less grave or whatever. its never happened to me so i dunno how id act tho, all depends on the suitation...
There's a difference between laughing at people and laughing with them. Some self harm jokes are actually quite amusing, others are just offensive, and it's a fine line between the two, and it differs from person to person.
But humour is a coping mechanism, and used in the right way it works well as a coping mechanism.
I think people shoudnt joke about self harm at all. today someone said one to me and it made me feel angry not beacuse i wasnt personally offended but it just made me very uncomfortable because i had to laugh at it.
Depends on the situation. If it's a ******** professional, then yeah, they're a wanker, but if it's someone who's decent to you then it's ok, depends how it's meant. I'm thinking here of a psych ward nurse I dealt with at some point-cracking lady, and a massive help, once we knew eachother a bit we sometimes joked about stuff like SH-it didn't bother me. 1st meeting I'd be like "Heh, yes, you're a ****wit" though. But then again, I'm nasty to my psychiatrists, but only because the vast majority of the ones I've encountered are narcissistic morons who, if they spent more time caring about people than they do putting their patients who they percieve to be less than them intellecutally down, they might get somewhere (other than A&E when someone loses the rag with them.)
Rant much? Me? :P
Simon.
Constituting a personality disordered threat to society since 1989.
Professionals definitely shouldn't be cracking the "I wish my grass was an emo..." jokes to patients, but I'd be a hypocrite if I said its always wrong. To an extent, in some situations, I think it's okay. Laughter is the best medicine & all that jazz.
"I regret to say that a detestable habit of thinking seems to be getting a hold of me."
"This country's hard on people, you can't stop what's coming, it ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity."
i have a few touchy subjects and i let everyone know what they are, but self harm isn't one of them. coming from a professional it is completely inappropriate, especially if they were meant to be hurtful. yet sometimes i make jokes about it with my roommate to help lighten things up and that's ok. i don't know, i really haven't been in that type of situation. discussing what i do with my psych, he always is very concerned and caring and i think that's how it should be.
It’s funny. When you think of someone saving a life, you think of them doing some great heroic act. When really, sometimes it’s just being there for someone, so they don’t do something incredibly tragic.
Jokes are just that. I don't think appropriateness should come into it unless it's really extreme.
Going up to an asian man, telling a 'corner shop' joke, then spitting in his face, for example, would be inappropriate. Making an emo kid joke, on the other hand, in most cases wouldn't be.
I couldn't care less. In fact, I've heard many truly witty remarks about both my bipolarity and my cutting. Some of those remarks & jokes have actually helped me cope
In social situations, I think it's fine every now and then. Hell, I make jokes about it. It keeps me from being too self-pitying and melodramatic.
Among mental health workers, that's not okay. Outside the professional setting- sure, whatever floats their boat. But in front of patients? Not alright.
