Suicide sites may make the decision too easy

[David Baxter PhD]

Suicide sites may make the decision too easy, study finds
Thursday, April 10, 2008
CBC News

Instead of websites dedicated to preventing suicide, the internet is a place where how-to sites abound, suggests new research.

Even on sites that intend to help people considering suicide, information on methods is often available, making it easy for internet users to gain information on how to kill themselves.

A study in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal found that by employing the most commonly used search engines on the internet, they could locate 240 sites dealing with the topic of suicide.

Ninety of the sites were dedicated entirely to the topic, with 45 specifically promoting, encouraging or educating viewers about how to commit suicide.

Sixty-two sites focused on preventing suicide or offered support, while 59 sites discouraged the option.

Information about suicide methods was included in 21 per cent of all support and prevention sites, and 55 per cent of academic or policy sites. News reports of suicides were also often quite detailed about methods.

"As some methods of suicide are more likely to cause death than others, such influences may affect the outcome of suicide attempts and national suicide rates," reads the study.

"Some people report being encouraged to use suicide as a problem-solving strategy by suicide web forums and cases of cybersuicide ? attempted or completed suicide influenced by the internet ? have been published in the popular and academic press."

Of the search engines, Google and Yahoo had the highest number of sites dedicated to suicide. MSN was found to have the highest number of prevention and support sites.

Chat rooms and discussion boards also provided information about suicide methods, with a third referencing hanging. "Contributors to chat rooms may exert peer pressure to commit suicide and facilitate suicide pacts," the study reads.

At the same time, the study acknowledges that prevention and support sites might be working, as shown by a decline in suicides since the mid-1990s in England.

 

[Misha]

This is another one of those internet phenomenon that make me raving mad. I'm really one to talk, as I used to frequent many negative sites, but it is so ridiculous. There are pro-self-injury sites out there where people post graphic pictures of their self-injury and comment on each other's "art". And don't even get me started on pro-anorexic sites.
But from my experience in this pro-negative behaviour internet world, I can say one thing. It is forums like this one that are the solution to this problem. These people are seeking community, and many are in the position where they are easily suggestable and will adopt a pro-suicide, self injury, etc. worldview. They don't go to these sites because of the views, but because of the people. Often those with similar struggles seem to be the only ones who understand.
For one of those people to find a site like this one, as I did, is nothing short of a miracle in their lives. Here people find community with positive influence. It is easy to feel helpless against such a negative internet phenomenon, but everyone on this site can know that they are doing their part against this.

 

[braveheart]

:goodpost:

 

[Mari]

It is easy to feel helpless against such a negative internet phenomenon, but everyone on this site can know that they are doing their part against this.

I do not have an update on this story past Wednesday but it does concern me.

Missing girl had MSN suicide chat
By JON WILLING, SUN MEDIA
April 9, 2008

Nadia Kajouji was discussing suicide with another person on the Internet the day she went missing from her Carleton University residence, her father said yesterday.

Mohamad Kajouji said his 18-year-old daughter was talking with the unknown person on MSN Messenger all day March 9 until she told a roommate she was going skating on the Rideau Canal that night.

Ottawa police met with Kajouji last Thursday and told him they found records of the conversation on the teen's computer.
The person Nadia was talking to seemed to know a lot about suicide, Mohamad said.

According to the father, the online conversation between Nadia and the other person, whom he said was female, ended around 8 p.m.

Police believe the person might live in the U.S., Mohamad said. Police would not confirm talks with the girl's father.

Mohamad denies his daughter might have taken her own life. Police don't suspect foul play in Nadia's disappearance.
Const. Alain Boucher said the marine unit has been monitoring the Rideau River for the "right conditions" to search.

 

[Misha]

That is a worrisome story, Mari. I did a google search on her name and it looks like there's an all-out search going on for her now, led moreso by her family than the police.

This brings back so much guilt from my past in negative forums.
People used to go missing from the forum all the time after we gave them "bad" advice.

 

[begonia]

I would go to other sites where people talked about depression, but they just weren't helpful. People would just talk about how miserable they felt. Endless venting is not good for me. That's why I like this site. Participants give support and positive suggestions as well.
:heart:

 

[Halo]

Begonia you make a really good point. I have also been to other forums with people talking about their mental issues and problems however I found that they weren't very helpful at all and sometimes more detrimental to myself actually. What I have found is that although support is sometimes given, I don't think that positive suggestions or feedback are and their are usually no clear guidelines set in place.

It does make me appreciate here more

 

[ladylore]

You have made a great point Begonia.

My therapy is like this site too. Very solution focussed. It brings hope to know that other people have been there and have been successful in finding the light at the end of the tunnel - so to speak. Even with a relapse of symptoms its ok because it won't last forever.

 

[Misha]

Yeah it's true that just hashing over things isn't productive. Often when I call the psych crisis line all they want to know is the details of my thoughts and what triggered me. Talking about it in detail, while I understand the idea behind it, doesn't exactly help me to stop thinking about it.
Having a supportive system of peers who offer solutions and hope is what this site does best.

 

[Halo]

Suicide Data on Web Mostly Not Preventive

British study finds Internet searches provide more on 'how to' than 'how to prevent'

By Kevin McKeever

THURSDAY, April 10 (HealthDay News) -- A new British study says that people surfing the Web for information about suicide are more likely to find sites that encourage the act rather than offering help and support.

Researchers from the universities of Bristol, Oxford and Manchester entered a dozen search terms, one at a time, into each of the four most popular Internet search engines to try to replicate how someone might look for information about how to commit suicide. They then analyzed the first 10 results turned up by each search -- 480 results in total.

The findings, published in the April 12 issue of BMJ, included 240 different sites, just under half of which offered information about methods of suicide. Almost a fifth of all the studied search engine results were sites dedicated to suicide, and half of those appeared to encourage, promote or facilitate killing oneself.

Only 62 sites, or 13 percent, were geared more toward suicide prevention or offering support. Just 59 sites actively discouraged suicide.

Information about committing suicide was found not only on almost all of the dedicated suicide and factual information sites but also on 21 percent of the support and prevention sites as well as 55 percent of academic or policy sites. All news reports of suicides in the study also provided information about methods.

The three sites that appeared most frequently during the Internet searches -- conducted using the Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com search engines -- were all pro-suicide. The information site Wikipedia was fourth most popular. All four sites evaluated methods of suicide, including detailed information about speed, certainty and the likely amount of pain associated with each method.

The study authors concluded that service providers might try using Web site optimization strategies to improve the chances that suicide prevention and support sites show up higher in the results list when people seek information about suicide methods.

 

[Misha]

ARGH!!