Select a condition from the menu box above to see the hourly breakdown of texts to Crisis Text Line for that issue.
Every week for four hours, Darren Mastropaolo logs into a special web browser and begins reading the desperate pleas of strangers. They roll in by the dozens, sometimes faster than he can respond:
“I’m so nervous it’s making me nauseous,” one message might say. Or “help something happened last night. I kept saying stop I don’t like this.”
Mastropaolo is a volunteer with Crisis Text Line, a New York-based nonprofit that offers crisis counseling by text message, mostly to teens. Its volunteers are rigorously trained, undergoing 40 hours of education and role-play exercises before starting work.
Crisis Text Line has helped 70,000 people since it launched a year ago. Mastropaolo usually interacts with several texters at once, but he'll stay with each conversation for as long as the texter wants or needs.
Peoples’ woes seem to vary by day of the week, too. Wednesdays are for anxiety, while suicidal thoughts peak on Sundays.
Geographically, New England seems to be the hub of anxiety, while depression is more evenly distributed throughout the country.
This article was originally published on www.theatlantic.com. Read the complete article here.
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