As you know, when you know someone who has reached a certain point with depression, you have an emergency on your hands. You have to act fast. They need options and they need them now.
But, if you are around to help (and know how to use the Hammer), there may be one good thing about the situation: They are ready to try anything. Even something as strange and radical as HAMR. After all, what have they got to loose?
The Hammer Exercise allows you to reinforce any given thought pattern. In an emergency situation, such as potential suicide, certain thought patterns should be reinforced first. Those patterns have to do with isolation.
Isolation is the dragon that must be slain first. You need to reinforce thought patterns that promote a sense of unity with others. The thought patterns that promote unity have to do with having a sense of sameness. The perception of sameness is the switch that turns isolation on or off. When you perceive yourself to be the same as someone else barriers disappear, loneliness evaporates and walls come crashing down. Sameness is your ultimate secret weapon in the battle to save someone from suicide.
The pain of losing someone to suicide is a wound that never heals. But life can be wonderful if you look at things through a clean lens. The Hammer can clean your lens. If you feel suicidal yourself, or, know someone who is, there is no time to waste - get busy. The sooner the exercises are done, the quicker you can start to feel feel better.
