Lucia Davis and Fi McAlevey. SPINZ Symposium Presentation, Dunedin, 2006. http://www.spinz.org.nz

1. (New) Media and Suicide
 “As long as people are able to communicate, it would be
impossible to eliminate contagion entirely” (Sudak, Sudak,
2005, p. 497)[1].

2. Lucia Davis
Resource Development & Community Liaison Coordinator
PO Box 10051, Dominion Rd, Auckland
Phone (09) 300 7036 Mob: (021) 676 322
lucia@spinz.org.nz
Fiona McAlevey
South Community Liaison
Phone (03) 366 6910 Cellphone (021) 572225
fiona@spinz.org.nz
Working to reduce suicide by providing high quality information.
Making mental health everybody’s business.
4th National Suicide Prevention Symposium, Dunedin, 28 & 29 November
2006,
'Understanding Suicidal Behaviour - update your knowledge and practice'
www.spinz.org.nz

3. Media and Suicide
 “Media can help or hinder suicide prevention efforts by
being an avenue for public education or by exacerbating
suicide risk by glamorising suicide or promoting it as a
solution to life’s problems” [2]
 NZSPS: “Research evidence has shown that some styles
of media reporting and portrayal of suicide and suicidal
behavior may, under some circumstances, increase
suicide rates through encouragement of ‘copycat’ suicide
and trough the normalization of suicide as an acceptable
response to adversity”

4. Media and Suicide
 Media reporting of suicide may not affect the majority of
us; however people in despair are often unable to
identify solutions to their problems and may be
influenced by what they read, view or hear. The effect
may be more profound if someone feels able to identify
with the person who died, perhaps because they are in
the same age group or share similar experiences or
ideals.
 An explicit report, particularly one which provides details
about the method of self-harm, may increase the risk (or
chance) that those who are vulnerable may take a
similar course of action[3].

5. HOW THIS COULD HAPPEN?
(Case Study)
John had grown up in a family that moved around every year, had
experienced serious physical abuse and was struggling with reading.
By 14 he was using alcohol and other drugs to escape his pain.
He felt miserable most of the time with regular outbursts of
uncontrolled anger.
His girlfriend had publicly dumped him the previous week. John
thought of suicide but rejected the idea as cowardice until he read
an article about the funeral of a young person who completed
suicide.

6. Media and Suicide – Case Study
 Already existing suicide risk:
John has experienced long term
difficulties, perhaps mental illness
and current stressful events. His
risk for suicidal behaviour is already
heightened;
 Identification: John reads that
the young person had dropped out
of school, was using alcohol and
had broken up with his partner The
more details he reads, the bigger
the identification with the person
who died;

7. • Good option: Many people at the funeral spoke about
what a cool person he was and how much he was missed. His
mates organized a guard of honour for him. If the article
presents the death as heroic, romantic or something that the
young person couldn’t escape from, John might think that this
will work for him too. The more glamorized the funeral, the
more appealing the scenario is for John;
• Reinforcement: The greater the number of media
reports, the greater the likelihood of imitation.

8. Examples of Research
 A 1995 study of coverage in Australian newspapers found that rates
of male suicide increased following reports of suicide, with actual
male suicides peaking on the third day after the story appeared[4];
 There were 22 suicides on the Vienna underground in the 18
months after the sensational media coverage of one incident in
1986 (twice the total for the previous three years). The figures
dropped dramatically after the media agreed voluntarily to limit the
coverage for a time[5].

9. Examples of Research
 In Hong Kong, when publicity was given to an unusual method of
suicide in 1998, nine similar cases were reported within a month.
Two months later it had become the third most common method,
and within two years it was the second most common method. A
study of the first 100 cases revealed similarities between the age,
marital status, mental state and financial problems of all those who
died and those reported in the media[6].
 In US, during a journalists’ strike in the 1960s, when there were no
newspapers to report suicides, some evidence emerged of a drop in
suicide attempts among women[7].

10. New media
People use internet for:
Information
Social interactions

11. Information
About socially sensitive topics
Social interactions
Many people report a greater willingness
to share thoughts and feelings online
than they would face in face-to-face
situations

12. Internet and Adolescents
a US perspective
 Computer access and use among adolescents have grown exponentially
over the past decade (Becker, 2000)
 More than 80% of American youth 12 to 17 years use the Internet, and
nearly half log on daily (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005)
 Adolescents use the internet primarily for social reasons (Roberts, Foehr, &
Rideout, 2005)
 The internet has become a virtual meeting place where teens hang out with
their peers to pass time
 Many adolescents reportedly prefer being online to other media, including
the telephone, TV, and radio (Gallup Survey, 2002)
 More than 50% of teens possess more than one e-mail address or screen
name, which they can use to send private messages to friends or to
participate anonymously in online forums, such as chat rooms

13. Search term ‘suicide’
Searching the Internet using search term such “suicide” opens
thousands of sites.
 (1) provisions of constructive and useful information aimed at
providing greater understanding of the reasons for suicidal
behaviour
 (2) advice and information for people seeking help with dealing
with suicidal thoughts
 (3) “chat rooms” (allowing discussions between individuals) or
newsgroups (enabling people to post messages on electronic
news boards to which anybody may respond)
 (4) finally, there are sites that encourage suicides and/or provide
instructions on suicide methods (Hawton, Kathryn, 2005)

14. examples
www.debxena.co.nz
Suicide is the only sane thing the young or old ever do in this life.
- quoted in Mark Twain: God' s Fool, Hamlin Hill[8]
www.satanservice.org explains in detail “how to kill yourself”:
“Suicide is hard work, and should not be undertaken lightly. It's easy
to do it badly, or make rookie mistakes. As with many things, the
best results are achieved by thorough research and careful
preparation[9]”.
Other sites cited by Lars Mehlum (2000) are “A Practical Guide to
Suicide”, “Death Net”, “Suicide Web”, “Church of Euthanasia”,
“Voluntary Human Extinction Movement”, “Alt.suicide.holiday”.

15. impact
Lars Mehlum (2000) was the first to report about the
relationship between Internet, Suicide and Suicide
Prevention:
the Norwegian case:
two people (a 17 years old girl from a town in the southern
part of Austria and a man in his twenties from a town in
western Norway) made contact through one of several
Internet discussion groups on the subject of suicide.
They met and put their lives to an end at the bottom of
a 600 meter high cliff on the West Coast of Norway[10].

16.  Merike Sisask, Airi Varnik and Danuta
Wasserman analysed seven Internet media
portrayals and 188 readers’ spontaneous Internet
comments about a case of two adolescents who
survived a serious suicide attempt in Estonia.
 All media reporting were dramatic, sensational,
presenting photos from the “hot spot” chosen.
They displayed very superficial, if any, aspects of
suicide prevention.
 The media has been found to have an attitude
forming impact: more than half of the comments
on irresponsible media portrayal expressed a
negative attitude towards attempted suicide,
suicide attempters, and their families, being ironic
(31%), and angry (28%).

17. The Virtual Cutting Edge: the Internet
and Adolescent Self-Injury
Janis L. Whitlock, Jane L. Powers, and John Eckenrode
 Two studies which investigate how adolescents
solicit and share information related to self-
injurious behaviour

18. Results
 Internet message boards
provide a powerful vehicle for
bringing together self-injurious
adolescents
 People exchange support,
share personal stories about
daily life events, and voice
opinions and ideas
 Online sharing may encourage
greater and more truthful
disclosures, especially among
self-injurers, many of whom
suffer from symptoms of
depression

19. The less positive side
 Participation in self-injury message boards may also expose
individuals to a subculture in which self-injury is normalized and
encouraged
 Easy access to a virtual subculture of like-minded others may
reinforce the behaviour for a much larger number of individuals
 Some message boards contain links to pro-self-injury Websites
where Internet users can purchase articles such as bracelets or
clothing that signify self injury status and cutting clubs have been
rumored to be a growing form of friendship ritual
 Discussions of techniques sharing, triggers, negative attitudes
toward formal or informal help seeking, and the pleasures and pains
of self-injury addiction may influence behavioural choices outside of
the virtual realm
 It may also make some youth targets for individuals who falsely
pose as supporters to accomplish other, less benevolent aims

20. Coroners Act 2006 038 (Commenced: 1 July 2007)
71 Restrictions on making public of details of self-inflicted deaths
If a coroner has found a death to be self-inflicted, no person may, without a
coroner's authority or permission under section 72, make public a particular
of the death other than:
(a) the name, address, and occupation of the person concerned;
and
(b) the fact that the coroner has found the death to be self-inflicted.
The only grounds on which a coroner may under this section authorise the
making public of particulars of the death are that the making public of
particulars of that kind is unlikely to be detrimental to public safety.

21. Australia:
Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences) Act
2005
It is an offence to use the Internet, email and other online
application to:
•access, transmit, make available, publish or distribute
material with the intention to directly or indirectly counsel or
incite suicide
•directly or indirectly promote or provide instruction on a
particular method of completing suicide

22. New Zealand Suicide Prevention
Strategy
 Goal 5: Promote the safe
reporting and portrayal of
suicidal behavior by the media
(including print, television, film
radio, drama, internet) to
minimize the potential for
imitation
 The implementation of this goal
will require joint strategies
with the media to build an
informed consensus upon which
to develop resources, and
agreed-upon codes of practice
and policies for the safe and
informative media reporting and
portrayal of suicide

23. Safety net
What do we need?

24. More Research
 To better understand the unique role the
Internet may play in affecting off-line
behaviour
 To better understand the relationship:
internet (globalization) – suicide – suicide
prevention

25. Legislation

26. To be proactive
 if public suicide portrayal provides a
model, the modelling process can lead
ambivalent individuals not only toward
suicide, but also toward life:
“…articles about suicide behaviour on the
Internet attract public attention… the
Internet can be used both as a source
for data collection and as means for
suicide prevention… the Internet can
be seen as one possible way to reach
young people. Suicide prevention by
intervening in spontaneous Internet
site comments in a professional way
may well be an avenue to educate
this group”
(Sisask, Varnik, Wasserman, 2005, p. 96)[13].

27. in 2002, the German Society of Suicide
Prevention chose the theme
“New media and suicidality” for their biannual
meeting
Fantastic opportunities in suicide prevention
came out of it:
• email
• chat and SMS counselling
• websites in the frame of a suicide prevention
program
• online-therapy with webcam
• antidepressive psychotherapy via Internet
• advertisement strategy for new target groups
for suicide prevention in the Internet [14]

28. References
 [1] Sudak, H.S., Sudak, D.M., (2005). The Media and Suicide, Academy Psychiatry 2005; 29:
495-499, http://ap.psychiatryonline.org
 [2] Mann, J.J et all. Suicide prevention Strategies, JAMA, October 26, 2005 – Vol 294, No 16
(reprinted)
 [3] Hunter Institute for mental Health, Response Ability, Resources for Journalism Education.
Commonwealth of Australia, National Suicide Prevention Strategy, 2001
 [4]Hassan, R. Effects of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia: a research
note. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 1995; 29(3), 480-483
 [5] Etzersdorfer E., Sonneck, G. Preventing Suicide by Influencing Mass-Media Reporting: the
Viennese experience 1980-1996. Archives of Suicide Research 1998; (1), 67-74
 [6] Chung, W.S.D., Leung, C.M. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning as a New Method of Suicide in Hong
Kong, Psychiatric Services 2001; vol.52. no.6
 [7] Blumenthal, S., Bergner, L. Suicide and Newspapers: A Replicated Study. American Journal of
Psychiatry 1973; 130:468-471
 [8] http://www.debxena.co.nz/suicide_quotes.htm, 2000, date accessed: 15 august,2006
 [9] http://www.satanservice.org/coe/suicide/metaguide.html
 [10] Mehlum, L. (2000). The Internet, suicide and suicide prevention. Crisis, 21, 186 - 188
 [11] Beautrais, A.L., Collings S.C.D., Ehrhardt, P. et al. Suicide Prevention: A review of evidence
of risk and protective factors, and points of effective intervention. Wellington: MoH, 2005
 [12] Sisask, M., Varnik, A., Wasserman, D., (2005). Internet Comments on Media Reporting of
Two Adolescents’ Collective Suicide Attempt, Archives of Suicide Research, 9:87-98, International
Academy for Suicide Research,
 [13] Etzersdorfer, Elmar, Fiedler, George and Witte, Michael (Eds.) (2003). New Media and
Suicidaity: Perils and Possibilities of Intervention. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
reviewed by Bronisch, T., in Archives of Suicide Research, vol. 9, number 4, 2004