When Words are Lethal: Why “talking about it” might not be as good as we think

Suicide, it is one of the most complex, and least understood phenomena when it comes to human psychology. When we choose to discuss mental health (or mental illness for that matter) a stigma is usually present, and a sense of awkwardness usually works its way into the room. Suicide though seems quite different, it has the tendency to be romanticized both in literature and in real life (see Romeo & Juliet and more [1]). So what exactly does this mean for society?

Throughout history (primarily in literature) many disturbing and unpleasant activities have been romanticized, often to encourage participation out of necessity. A good example of this would have been combat up until WW1[2] (and even afterwards) when war was often heavily romanticized, mostly to young males as to encourage future military service which was often required by the state through conscription [3].  This dissipated after the onset of WW1 after surviving combat became more oriented around being lucky than being skilled (use of machine guns and gas). Suicide seems to be following a trend. It currently accounts for 2% of all deaths in the US alone, and is on a speedy rise for youth aged 15-24 [4]. In 2002 a study revealed that in a 12 month period 19% of teens seriously considered committing suicide [5]. What is the cause of this rise? Teens do use social media on a common basis and some of the content available does depict scenes of depression and suicide, some of which is romanticized (including books, which use loss of life to stimulate readers emotions).While nobody knows for sure, but most suicides are depression related. To make things harder depression can be caused by an endless list of things, so to say that the romanticization of suicide is the cause would be indeed a logical fallacy, but this does not mean that romanticization isn't something we should be concerned about.

There is currently much debate over whether suicide related content actually contributes to suicide. The process of individuals, when introduced to the idea of suicide will attempt to commit the act is properly called “contagion”.  The “contagion” process likely stems off of negative feedback loop like reaction (commonly known as the “vicious circle”). The idea is that once introduced to negative content the viewer will obtain a negative perspective of their surroundings, thus increasing the chances of suicidal thoughts and behaviours. So then begs the question, does romanticization of suicide lead to contagion? Well, a peer-reviewed paper composed by Howard S. Sudak (M.D) and Donna M. Sudak (M.D) [6] found that media output of suicide related materials actually increased suicide or the attempt thereof; even anti-suicide campaigns that publish “descriptive” suicide accounts. In addition to these findings, it was originally thought that publishing this kind of material only affected individuals who were already suicidal, thus “pushing them over”. This was refuted by a study showing that the effect of publishing the material was indiscriminate in who was affected, which is a paradigm shift in itself as it challenges traditional ideas on who was at risk.

Image from: Whitney Schaffer [7]

So how does this all link? If the simple notion of suicide in the media is enough to cause suicide rates to trend upwards the question then really becomes, what happens when you make it look good? The answer is likely not good, but any research on this has yet to be conducted that we could find so until then we can only contemplate.

In conclusion we would suggest that all individuals stay away from suicidal content unless they feel that they are emotionally stable enough to handle the material without harming their mental health.  If you are suffering from a mental illness or life issues we suggest you seek professional help. Doctors and mental health professionals don’t go through years of schooling and thousands of dollars for no reason, it’s because they want to help people, so let them.

Also, have a great Christmas/ Holiday! :)

Sincerely,

-- Suicide/ Mental Health Group

Suicide/ Mental Health Group 

Sources:
- List of Suicides in Fiction- Wikipedia [1]
- WW1 Propaganda Posters- Hubpages [2]
- List of countries that have conscription (contemporary)- Wikipedia [3]
- Suicide rates for teens US- APA [4]
- 2002 study for suicide contemplation rates- questia [5]
- List of causes of depression- Harvard Health 
- Media aids in suicide report [6]
- Photo of therapy chair- Whitneyschaffer [7]