Internet suicide
Encyclopedia : I : IN : INT : Internet suicide
| Suicide |
| Types of suicide |
|---|
| Teenage suicide |
| Euthanasia / Assisted suicide |
| Murder-suicide |
| Suicide bombing |
| Ritual suicide |
| Cult suicide |
| Mass suicide |
| Suicide pact |
| Internet suicide |
| Copycat suicide |
| Forced suicide |
| Suicide by cop |
| History and Methodology |
| History of suicide |
| Famous suicides |
| Parasuicide (threats of suicide) |
| Suicide methods |
| Suicide note |
| Suicide watch |
| Views on suicide |
| Cultural |
| Legal |
| Medical views of suicide>Medical |
| Philosophical |
| Religious |
| Right to die |
| Resources for dealing with suicidal thoughts |
| Crisis hotline |
| Assessment of suicide risk |
| Suicide prevention |
| Crisis hotlines by country |
| Medical views of suicide |
An Internet suicide is a suicide pact made between individuals who meet on the Internet. The majority of such Internet-related suicide pacts have occurred in Japan, which has one of the highest overall suicide rates in the world, but similar incidents are also being reported in Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany, Australia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and Sweden. Though the first known Internet-related suicide pact occurred in Japan in October 2000, it was a later February 2003 incident, involving a young man and two young women, that “became a landmark incident of Internet suicide pacts in Japan due to heavy media coverage” (source: [“Suicide as Japan’s major export"], Kayoko Ueno, Revista Espaco Academico, January 2005).
Despite the alarmed response of the media, however, Internet-connected suicide pacts are still relatively rare. Even in Japan, where most of such pacts have occurred, they still represent only 2% of all group suicide-pacts, and less than .01% of all suicides combined. However, they do seem to be on the increase in that country: 34 such pacts occurred in 2003; at least 50 are estimated to have occurred in 2004; and 91 occurred in 2005 (sources: [“Japan suicide reports”], Japan Mental Health, January 31, 2005; [“Seven die in online suicide pact in Japan"], Guardian (UK), March 2, 2005; and [“Six dead in Japan 'suicide pact'"], BBC, March 10, 2006).
Traditional suicide pacts vs Internet suicide pacts
A recent Internet article published by the Canterbury Suicide Project ([“Suicide Pacts”], Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand, May 2005) makes some notable comparisons between the nature of “traditional” suicide pacts and more recent Internet-related suicide pacts (or, as described in the article, “cyber-based suicide pacts”). It points out that, traditionally, suicide pacts have been extremely rare; usually involve older individuals (50-60 years old) and very few adolescents; and tend to be between individuals with family or marriage-type relationships and differing, but complementary, psychiatric pathologies. On the other hand, the growing number of Internet-related suicide pacts are almost the exact opposite: they involve young people almost exclusively; tend to be between complete strangers or individuals with platonic friendship-type relationships; and the common characteristic between them would seem to be clinical depression.
The article also points out that the trend of Internet-related suicide pacts is changing the way that mental-health workers need to deal with depressed and/or suicidal youngsters, advising that it is “prudent for clinicians to ask routinely if young people have been accessing Internet sites, obtaining suicide information from such sites, and talking in suicide chat rooms”.
Internet suicide in television
- An Internet suicide pact was the main focus of an episode of Paranoia Agent. In the episode "Happy Family Planning," an old man, a young man, and a young girl meet to attempt many suicides.
- It is also seen in the Japanese film Suicide Circle.
- "[Alt.suicideholliday.net]" (2005; D.Verbeek) is a short film (25min) that centers around three internet friends from different parts of the world, who come together on new years day to commit suicide. It was directed by David Verbeek and written by Rogier de Blok as a graduation project for the Dutch Film and Television Academy and aired by NPS on Dutch Television.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.