Suicide and the internet

doi:10.1136/bmj.39525.442674.AD

BMJ 2008;336:800-802 (12 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39525.442674.AD

Feature

Public Health

Suicide and the internet

Lucy Biddle, research fellow¹, Jenny Donovan, professor of social medicine¹, Keith Hawton, professor of psychiatry², Navneet Kapur, reader in psychiatry³, David Gunnell, professor of epidemiology¹

¹ Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2PR, ² Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, ³ Centre for Suicide Prevention, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL

Correspondence to: D Gunnell d.j.gunnell@bristol.ac.uk

Recentreports of suicide by young people have highlighted thepossible influence of internet sites. Lucy Biddle and colleaguesinvestigate what a web search is likely to find

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Media reporting of suicide and its fictional portrayal on televisionare known to influence suicidal behaviour, particularly thechoice of method used.¹ ² ³ Indeed, epidemics of suicides usingparticular methods have occurred after media portrayal of theiruse.³ ⁴ ⁵ As some methods of suicide are more likely to causedeath than others,⁶ such influences may affect the outcome ofsuicide attempts and national suicide rates.⁷

The influence of the internet on suicidal behaviour is lesswell understood, although it is an increasingly popular sourceof information, especially for people confronting embarrassingissues such as mental illness, and concerns have been raisedabout the existence of sites that promote suicide.⁸ ⁹ Some peoplereport being encouraged to use suicide as a problem solvingstrategy by suicide web forums⁸ and cases of cybersuicide—attemptedor completed suicide influenced by the internet—have beenpublished in the popular and academic press.⁹ ¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹² Suicidesites are also claimed to have . . . [Full text of this article]

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