AND CAN YOU CATCH IT?
In the aftermath of legendary actor/ comedian Robin Williams self-inflicted death by hanging, the news world has been flooded with stories about depression and suicide.
One story – published in The New York Times – suggests suicide might be contagious. And that the media may be responsible for fueling outbreaks.
“Suicide contagion is real, which is why I’m concerned about it,” one Columbia University professor told Times reporter Margot Sanger-Katz.
Wait … “suicide contagion?” Yup. Basically, this theory holds that one suicide – especially the suicide of a celebrity – can create a chain reaction, and that younger people are especially susceptible in such circumstances.
Sanger-Katz article also delves into how media coverage of suicides – especially the glamorization of suicide death – could be feeding the “suicide contagion.” In fact her article points to reporting guidelines for those who cover suicides, urging them to leave out sensationalism and gory details and instead focus on preventative measures for dealing with mental illness.
For example, the guidelines suggests generic headlines like “Kurt Cobain Dead at 27” rather than something more detailed and graphic like “Kurt Cobain Used Shotgun to Commit Suicide.”
Interesting … utterly impractical in the TMZ.com era of reporting, but interesting.
What do you think? Is “suicide contagion” real? And does the media bear some responsibility in fueling it?
Vote in our poll and post your thoughts in our comments section below …
11 comments
Any chance the “contagion” can spread through Columbia university and take out a few annoying professors?
suiciders
Suicide is contagious and the only Humans known to be immune are those individuals elected/appointed to office in the State of South Carolina
Studies indicate these individuals have a hump on one gene. This unusual genetic mutation also allows the same individuals to engage in unethical, immoral, lying, cheating, backstabbing, cork screwing, black hearted son of a bitch acts/doings with a total lack of conscience
Also at night these same Humpers morph into Cockroaches and run out into the night to eat dog shit
Yes, the media does fuel the process
Before folks (the people, not Will) start calling BS on the genetic link to suicide here’s a link to one of the better abstracts on the studies linking a deficiency of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor to suicide.
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/05_00/suicide_gene.shtml
You rock, OWB!!!!
According to Robert Altman, the movie industry and television: ‘Suicide is painless and brings on many changes. And you can take or leave it if you choose.’
The game of life is hard play, and you’re gonna lose it anyway…..
Suicide-contagious—could we make a vaccine and inject liberals and Dims ? Lots of problems solved.
Go suck on a tailpipe.
If it’s contagious, one can only hope GrandTango “catches” it before we find a cure.
The family just announced that he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Sad I have a family member with Parkinson’s and you can live a long time with minimal quality of life issues with Parkinson’s if it’s treated properly.