Weekly News Roundup Oct 26-31, 2024

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 Nunavut suicide prevention plan focuses on supporting young people – Nunatsiaq News
October 31, 2024
The Nunavut Government has committed to a new suicide prevention plan which includes 25 action items, including youth-focused items such as developing Nunavut-specific strategies to prevent bullying, promoting Inuit culture and wellness in schools, increasing youth participation in leadership initiatives, and creating safe spaces for youth in all communities. Other action items include increasing Inuit employment through training and career assistance, strengthening helpline services, and enhancing treatment services for substance use. Opal McInnis, president of the board of Embrace Life Council says, “This action plan really does speak to the importance of accountability through appropriate evaluation methods, and reporting and monitoring to ensure this action plan is doing what it’s intended to do. Our hope is to see the number of deaths decrease, but also to promote community resiliency, to see enhanced collaboration, to really see people working together, communicating more effectively when it comes to wellness issues.”

AI chatbot prompted a 14-year-old’s suicide, mom’s lawsuit alleges: ‘We are behind the eight ball.’ Here’s how to keep kids safe from new tech – Fortune Well
October 30, 2024
Sewell Setzer III, 14, died by suicide after developing a relationship with a Character.AI bot. Setzer’s mother Megan Garcia is suing the company and raising awareness for her son’s experience and the danger of chatbots. This article explains what an AI companion is, why they can be dangerous, and how parents can protect their children. One research group, Common Sense Media, explains, “Companions can be used to avoid real human relationships, may pose particular problems for people with mental or behavioral challenges, may intensify loneliness or isolation, bring the potential for inappropriate sexual content, could become addictive, and tend to agree with users—a frightening reality for those experiencing suicidality, psychosis, or mania.” Parents can keep children safe by setting boundaries on AI companion access, encouraging real-world friendships and activities, checking in regularly to monitor the content from the chatbot and their child’s level of attachment to it, and talking non-judgmentally and openly about AI. Robbie Torney, who works at Common Sense Media, says, “If parents hear their kids saying, ‘Hey, I’m talking to a chat bot AI,’ that’s really an opportunity to lean in and take that information—and not think, ‘Oh, okay, you’re not talking to a person.’ Try to listen from a place of compassion and empathy and not to think that just because it’s not a person that it’s safer or that you don’t need to worry.”
Related – Teens are talking to AI companions, whether it’s safe or not – Mashable

Many Suicides Are Not Impulsive – Psychology Today
October 28, 2024
This article discusses the fact that suicide is most often not impulsive, and explains why studies suggesting that suicide is impulsive are flawed. The author of this article quotes suicidologist Thomas Joiner, “The idea that suicidal acts come out of the blue undermines the attempts to study, assess, treat, and prevent them. Suicide is tractable, and we owe it to the memories of those who have died already and to those who are at risk in the future to make it more so.”

Study links internalized racism to increased suicidal thoughts in Asian Americans – PsyPost
October 25, 2024
A new study has found that Asian Americans who have internalized negative stereotypes about their race were more likely to think about suicide. The effects of internalized racism were stronger than those of even external experiences of racism. Lead author Fanhao Nie says, “Therefore, for readers, particularly those from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, our internalized racial repression poses a greater threat than observable, external racism. This is probably the area that deserves more public attention and resources in the fight against racism.”