Resource Tag: IMITATIVE SUICIDE

The authors present a review of the current trends in the literature in different fields of adolescent suicide today. Special emphasis is given to psychopathology & its relationship with suicide, epidemiology, suicide prevention, & therapeutical issues. (19 refs)

This article examines the frequent use of suicide in William ShakespeareÕs tragedies. The article notes that Shakespeare makes mention of assisted suicide, imitative suicide, & suicidal ideation by individuals with depression or disabilities. The article proposes that attitudes toward suicide around 1600 were perceived by Shakespeare & incorporated into his plays. The author concludes that […]

This review describes researchers’ current knowledge of suicide & suicidal behavior. A description of suicidal behavior is included, as is some clinical correlates of this behavior. Discussions on imitative suicide, neurobiological evidence, & psychosocial correlates are included. A hypothesized stress-diathesis model to explain & predict suicide is presented. (119 refs) (SC)

This article describes a project by the American Association of Suicidology in which negative & positive media portrayals of suicide will be analyzed over the course of a year. The author states that this information will then be used to make advertisers & broadcasters accountable for their portrayals of suicide that may hinder suicide prevention. […]

This article summarizes current knowledge about the causes & pathways to suicide, & discusses the effectiveness of different approaches to suicide prevention. Risk factors for suicide, such as diagnosed psychiatric disorders, & proximate influences, such as disruptions in significant relationships, are presented. A comparison of primary & secondary suicide prevention programs is included. The authors […]

This article discusses the possible relationship between television & the adolescent suicide rate. Several studies are described in which it appears that television coverage of suicide was followed by increases in the adolescent suicide rate in America. (SC)

This article recounts the author’s personal experience of losing both his step-son & his wife to suicide. It discusses the increased risk for suicide associated with survivors, as well as the compounded grief & emotional conflicts that are generated from surviving multiple suicides. His own processes of grief for each victim are explored, as are […]

This article explores the role of the media in influencing suicide & suicidal behaviors. Factors that contribute to the media’s influence are discussed, & the implementation of guidelines for reporting suicide is considered, along with the possible drawbacks of such a policy. The unclear role of the internet in influencing suicide is also addressed. Finally, […]

For the original article by K Hawton et al, please see SIEC #2001-0638

Based on they hypotheses of some authors that reports on suicide in media can lead to imitation, the author surveyed all articles of reported suicides (not only subway-suicides & -attempts) in the two largest Austrian daily newspapers & analyzed them in connection with the subway-suicide-scene. The findings suggest that if media reports should have an […]

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This article investigates the susceptiblity of youth to the influence of reports & portrayals of suicide in the mass media. Recent content analyses of newspapers & films in the United States reveal substantial opportunity for exposure to suicide, especially among young victims. The authors discuss the impact of educating the media about ways to present […]

This article investigates the influence of a televised suicide attempt on the rates of suicide attempts & completions in London. Descriptions of the program & method of suicide attempt are presented. Statistics indicate that there was a considerable increase in the number of patients presenting with suicidal behavior to casualty the week after the broadcast. […]

This study investigated the association between people who made nearly lethal suicide attempts & exposure to the suicidal behavior of parents, relatives, friends or acquaintances. Exposure to accounts of suicide in the media was also examined in relation to people who made nearly lethal suicide attempts. 153 people who attempted suicide & 513 control subjects […]

In this commentary, the authors place the role of media influences in the context of other factors contributing to suicidal behaviour. Comment is made on the timing of media effects. Particular methodological issues in research in this area are highlighted, along with areas in which research is needed to improve knowledge, especially in relation to […]

This review considered 42 studies that have examined the nonfiction media. Consideration was given to the extent to which inferences could be made about the relationship between portrayal of suicide in the given media & actual suicidal behaviour in terms of the strength of its association & the extent to which it could be considered […]

The association between the portrayal of suicide in fictional media & actual suicide has been debated since 1774, when it was asserted that Goethe’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther” had led people to take their own lives. Since that time, a plethora of studies considering the association have been conducted. This review considered 34 studies […]

This paper considers some of the theoretical explanations for the association between media representations of suicide & suicidal behaviours. Most of the studies which were reviewed by the authors fall within the media “effects tradition”, & a critique of this approach is provided. Alternative approaches are then explored. (63 refs.)

This review explores the influence on suicide of the print & electronic media, & considers both real & fictional deaths. The conclusion appears inescapable that reports about celebrities which are multi-modal, repeated, explicit, front page, glorify the suicide, & describe the method lead to an increase in suicides, particularly in the region in which reports […]

This 3-part feature on adolescent suicide reports on work done in South Australia concerning: the effect on school students of the suicide of a peer; postvention strategies in the school following a student suicide; & the phenomenon of clustering. The individual articles are: “The Effect on Adolescents of the Completed Suicide of Another Student” by […]

This article concentrates on 4 aspects of the social relations of suicide: 1) a brief history of the sociologic study of suicide; 2) social isolation; 3) contagion or imitation; & 4) social stress & negative interaction. The focus is on the presence or absence of external & constraining social factors, as reflected in indicators such […]