if you go to the ER for suicidal thoughts youre basically saying youre in crisis mode, aka youre very close to hurting yourself or others. i volunteered in an ER for a summer a few years ago, and one of the psych patients held a knife to his wrist and was threatening to cut himself. he was unrestrained in one of those isolation type rooms and had to be talked down by a group of like 6 or 7 nurses. that's why they restrain you, because shit like that happens often and they dont want you to act violently towards youself or others. You may be mentally stable and just needing help, but a lot of people are not mentally stable (like not even close) and could do a lot of harm.