Educational Media Reviews Online

A Need to Connect is a monologue of one person's experience with suicide. The young woman who speaks in this video not only saw her fiancé, the man of her dreams, shoot himself in front of her, she subsequently attempted suicide twice in response to her shock, loneliness, grief, and pain. She first describes herself as someone from a middle-class background, someone who was popular, smart, and who had never been lonely before. Since her loss, she experienced extreme loneliness, fear, guilt, and shame. She didn't remember her first suicide attempt; she woke up in a psychiatric ward after trying to jump out of a 15-story window. She describes herself in her second attempt - taking 160 pills - as not wanting to die but rather wanting the pain to go away. She said, "I was trying to get out of my pain, out of my heart."

This woman is sharing her insights from her own experience. She wants to help others who have attempted or contemplated suicide. Out of her first-hand experience she says,

"People do this because they feel they have nowhere else to go. They are so lonely and lost and scared. They have nowhere to go or no one to listen to them. They have to get it out because everything has a solution, suicide doesn't. I want people just to hear this and get help."

This is a genuine and moving example of one person's continuing struggle with loss and grief. For those who have lost someone to suicide or have attempted suicide themselves, this video may assist with their therapeutic needs. For therapists, clinicians, and laypersons, this video can help build insight and empathy towards the someone in pain. It can also provide wisdom about how to respond to the needs of those in pain.

The technical quality of the video is good. There are numerous splices in the monologue but the transitions are smooth and logical. At 29 minutes long, it provides the audience with a manageable amount of information and time for meaningful class discussion. I would recommend the video for clinicians and for college libraries that support counseling programs.