By Alex Schadenberg International Chair, Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionFor several years the Oregon suicide statistics seemed to indicate that legalizing assisted suicide had a suicide contagion effect. Continue reading

By Alex SchadenbergExecutive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition published 20th Jan 2015 Yesterday Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister in the UK, announced at a mental health conference, the overnment's intention to reduce suicide to zero by working in cooperation with every part of the National Health Service and other agencies.According to The Telegraph news, Clegg is modeling this suicide prevention program on the successful program that was implemented in Detroit Michigan. The article stated:... every suicide is preventable if NHS trusts provide better care for people suffering from depression and other serious illnesses. The "zero suicides" target can be met through simple measures, such as keeping in touch with patients who have been discharged from mental health wards and creating a plan so that patients and their friends know whom to contact if they are placing themselves in danger. Police and transport agencies will be called on to examine whether safety measures can be put in place in "hot zones" where high numbers of suicides occur, such as shopping centres or bridges. The plans have been inspired by a mental health programme in Detroit, US, where a "zero suicide" commitment resulted in no-one in the care of state depression services taking their lives in two years. Continue reading

By Alex SchadenbergExecutive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition In an article about the opinion of physicians on assisted suicide, Dr Will Johnston, the Chair of EPC - BC comments on the effects of the Brittany Maynard story. Johnston states:"The social threshold of inhibition against suicide has been steadily eroded by the rhetorical strategy of calling for an endorsement of suicide in hard cases through labeling such endorsement [as] compassionate," he said. "The Brittany Maynard tragedy is a prime example of this."Johnston then comments on how the Maynard story has caused a suicide contagion effect:"We see how suicide contagion works when the media admire the suicidal person and speak of suicide as a form of heroism," Johnston said. "I hospitalized a young suicidal patient 10 days ago who told me how he had done an Internet search for suicide drugs after watching the slick video glamorizing Brittany which was produced by the Hemlock Society (now Compassion & Choices)." Continue reading

By Margaret Dore It is well established that a single suicide can encourage other suicides, which is called a "suicide contagion." If the additional suicides use the same method, they are "copy cat" suicides. Moreover, as explained below, this encouragement phenomenon is relevant to Compassion & Choices' media campaign.A famous example of a suicide contagion is the suicide death of Marilyn Monroe, which inspired an increase in other suicides. This encouragement phenomenon can also occur when the inspiring death is not a suicide. An example is the televised execution of Saddam Hussein, which led to suicide deaths of children worldwide. An NBC News article begins: Continue reading

By Stephen Drake, Research Analyst with Not Dead Yet USA The sudden emergence of suicide prevention organizations and their representatives in the media responding to the death of Robin Williams has been mind-blowingly outrageous to me - I track the suicide coverage - assisted and non-assisted - of old, ill and disabled people regularly. It's part of my job. A near-constant in reading and watching that coverage has been the near-total absence of suicide prevention organizations and professionals in reacting to any suicide of old, ill or elderly people labelled as "right to die," death with dignity," "end of life," "assisted suicide" or any other terminology that seeks to differentiate the suicides of some people from the larger group deemed as "preventable tragedies."In the aftermath of Robin Williams' apparent suicide, suicide prevention experts and the press want to take special care about warning the public and make sure that the coverage of his death doesn't spark a rise in suicidal behavior. Here's a sampling of the reactions, starting with a response to a tweet put out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences as reported in the Washington Post: Continue reading

  This is an important commentary on a new study on the phenomenon of suicide contagion. Whilst it has long been thought that 'copycat syndrome' does exist, this study proves the point with some startling and sobering analysis.  Continue reading

Suicide contagion, also known as the Werther effect, is a well-documented phenomenon of serious concern for young people.  Also called "copycat syndrome", the understanding that knowledge of a youth suicide creates risk factors amongst peer groups, school classmates and even 'friends-of-friends' networks has been taken  seriously now by educators, police and the media for decades. Continue reading