Is The Internet Pro-Suicide?

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Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Public Health;  Mental Health
Article Date: 10 Apr 2008 - 16:00 PDT

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According to an article published in BMJ, people researching suicidal methods on the Internet are more likely to find sites that promote suicide instead of ones that provide help and support.

It is known that suicidal behavior is influenced by the way the media covers suicides and how television and film approach the topic. These media have even been shown to impact the choice of suicidal method used. However, there is little research on how the Internet influences this type of behavior.

Recently, the popular press has reported on the availability and influence of Internet sites and web forums that encourage suicide in young people. The research literature, however, is missing a systematic review on how easy it is to find these types of site on the Internet and exactly what information is offered on them.

This led researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Manchester to further study suicide on the Internet. The team approached the topic by simulating a typical search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and ASK, that a typical person would perform while seeking information on suicidal methods and instructions for suicide. They used 12 simple search terms:

1. suicide
2. suicide methods
3. suicide sure methods
4. most effective methods of suicide
5. methods of suicide
6. ways to commit suicide
7. how to commit suicide
8. how to kill yourself
9. easy suicide methods
10. best suicide methods
11. pain-free suicide
12. quick suicide

A total of 480 web addresses (the first ten from each search) and 240 unique sites were retrieved, visited, and viewed. A little less than half of the 240 sites contained information on suicidal methods. About 20% (90 of 240) were sites whose primary focus was suicide; the researchers coded half of these as encouraging, promoting, or facilitating suicide.

Contrastingly, 13% (62 of 480) of sites focused on suicide prevention or offered support, and 12% (59 of 480) sites forbade or discouraged suicide.

Of sites that were dedicated to suicide and sites with factual information, almost all offered information about suicidal methods. The researchers noted that about 21% of support and prevention sites, 55% of academic or policy sites, and all news reports contained information on methods of suicide.

Another interesting finding was that Google and Yahoo returned the most sites dedicated to suicide, while MSN retrieved the highest number of sites focusing on prevention, support, academics, and policy. The three sites that occurred most frequently in the search promoted suicide, and Wikipedia's informational article on suicide was fourth. These top four sites all contained detailed information on suicidal methodology, specifically addressing method speed, certainty, and potential amount of pain.

In the UK, suicide sites are legal and there is no regulation. Parents use filtering software to block access to these sites and some internet provides self-regulate in an attempt to reduce any harm that may come from accessing pro-suicide site. The authors note, however, that trying to remove some of the most detailed technical descriptions of methods is virtually impossible.

"It may be more fruitful for service providers to pursue website optimisation strategies to maximise the likelihood that suicidal people access helpful rather than potentially harmful sites in times of crisis," conclude the authors.

Suicide and the Internet
Lucy Biddle, Jenny Donovan, Keith Hawton, Navneet Kapur, David Gunnell
BMJ. Volume 336: p. 880. (12 April 2008).
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Written by: Peter M Crosta
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