What Should I Do?

[leisurely]

You are a good person and an excellent friend. Well done you.

[Sheryl]

GuestHouse -

Maybe I misread but I got the impression somewhere that these are not Thais but expats.

OP -

If you suspect your friend of making this up, one way to get at that would be to ask her if she has informed her mother's doctor and, if not, say something like: " I am afraid that by telling me about this you have made me morally responsible to see that he knows about, so please do as I would hate to have to do it myself"

And if you do have to tell him yourself, be sure to make it clear that it is second hand information, source being the daughter.

My feeling that you should go the extra step of being sure the mom's doc knows about this is from the perspective of a health professional. Any half-way ethical health care professional caring for a depressed person would want to have any and all information related to the likelihood of suicidal thoughts, even if second hand in nature. It is a deciding factor in treatment options. And health professionals are quite used to receiving information that may not be accurate and taking it with a grain of salt....and to keeping the source of information confidential.

As long as she is specific about how she came to know this (told by the daughter, did not hear the mother say so herself) I see no reason why it would be other than helpful to inform the woman's doctor.

[MiG16]

very true that most suicide attempts/thoughts are attention seeking. however this does not make it any less worrying. majority with suicidal thoughts would go on to make the attempt. of those that make attempts, a small percentage succeed, many after making several attempts. each of the attempts, the method tends to get more serious, or the damage inflicted on themselves also more serious. ofcourse this is very much to do with getting more and more attention. they are a cry for help. in your friend's mother's case it becomes worrying that since the family members, the very people she is probably seeking attention from, are not giving it to her. this could easily lead her to do something more to get them to listen.

there is various hotline numbers that provide services over the phone, she could call one of these hotlines. it is not as confronting as going directly to a professional. some lines are staffed by professionals I suppose, but I am aware of the Samaritans, whose phone lines are answered by ordinary people (who have been given some weeks of intensive training). they mainly provide an outlet for people to vent, they have been coached how to get people to talk, and at the same time detect for possible serious cases....who they then try to persuade to seek professional help.

i think this might be an option? I do not have their number on hand, but will try to search...meantime you could try to google for the Samaritans bangkok

cheers