Suicide has become one of the main health problems of modern world countries regardless of their levels of welfare and geographical positions. According to the statistics, suicide cases, which have been declared by the World Health Organization as one of the priority struggle directions, cause the death of more than 700,000 people every year, one person in every 40 seconds. It results in the untimely death of people more than wars, AIDS, Breast cancer, Malaria, and domestic crimes every year. According to WHO statistics, one of every 100 people lost his life as a result of a suicide in 2019.
What is the reason for the increase in suicide cases?
It has been determined thanks to research that some social groups are more inclined to suicide. According to WHO, suicide cases are observed at 40-60 ages in developed countries, while at 20-40 ages in countries with low and medium income. Furthermore, although the reason is not known, suicide rates among men are higher than among women.
Suicide cases in developed countries are usually related to depression and alcohol use disorder. According to research, suicide usually occurs impulsively during failure of struggle ability against stress in crises such as break of relations, and financial problems.
Moreover, individuals, who have been subjected to conflicts, discrimination, violence, exploitation, or loss, are more inclined to suicide.
Suicide rates are high among refugees and migrants, prisoners, and representatives of sexual minorities who have been subjected to discrimination.
Veterans are among the groups most at risk of suicide
One of the groups that face a risk of suicide mostly is veterans. According to US Suicide Prevention Center, 6,000 veterans committed suicide each year in the country from 2008 to 2017. It made up 13.5% of adult deaths related to suicide in the country in that period.
According to the information of RAND organization, since 2005, suicide cases among veterans are rapidly increasing and during 12 years, suicide cases are much more among veterans in comparison to other people.
According to the organization, 6 435 veterans committed suicide in the US. According to the statistics of 2019, suicide cases among veterans were 27.5 people per 100 thousand people, while this indicator made up 18,2 per 100 thousand people among non-veterans suicides.
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According to the information of “Stopsoldiersuicide.org”, veterans face 50% greater risks of suicide in comparison to their peers who were not in military service. According to the forecast of the organization, by 2030, veteran suicides in the US will be 23 times more than the number of servicemen died in the military operations carried out after September 11 events. Moreover, it is projected that veteran suicides will create a public cost amounting to USD 221 bln. for the US by 2030. In total, 114 thousand veteran suicides have been recorded in the US since 2001. Since 2006 alone, there has been an 86% increase in suicides among veterans, most of whom are in the 18-34 age group.
The feeling of suicide
However, the feeling of suicide can influence any individual at any moment regardless of age, and gender. This feeling is mainly described such as growing despair, feeling worthless. The person subjected to these feelings sometimes may be in trouble to determine what caused it. However, the Mind organization of the Great Britain attributes suicidal feelings to a combination of factors: psychological problems, bullying or discrimination, being subjected to racial discrimination, domestic violence, suffering from various types of violence, including being sexually or physically abused, to be in mourning or losing a loved one, ending relationships, long term physical pains, difficulty adjusting to major changes, financial problems, being arrested, failure, addiction (drug and alcohol addiction), pregnancy, gender identity doubts, cultural pressures, forced marriage and other traumas.
Warning signs of suicide
According to the US Suicide Prevention Center, individuals prone to suicide may experience a change in behavior or the emergence of completely new behaviors. It is also possible to identify people who are prone to suicide by their conversations. So, those people talk about killing themselves, despair, having no purpose in life, feeling like a burden to others, and suffering unbearable pain. The signals of suicidal behavior include such signs as the use of alcohol or drugs, searching for methods that can end their lives on the Internet, sleeping too little or too much, meeting people to say goodbye, giving away their valuable possessions, acting aggressively, and fatigue. As for the suicidal mood, those who commit suicide may show psychological states such as depression, anger, loss of interest, and a sudden feeling of well-being.
Is it possible to prevent suicide?
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However, suicide is a preventable behavior. It is possible to prevent suicide by taking various measures at the population level and the individual level. WHO states that it is possible to prevent suicides by limiting access to means of suicide (poison, firearms, certain drugs), providing that the media outlets cover suicide news in a responsible manner, inculcating socio-emotional life skills in adolescents, early identification, assessment, and management of suicidal behavior.
The role of the media in the fight against suicide: The difference between a car accident and suicide news
Compared to all other means, the media has enormous potential to prevent or encourage suicide. In world practice, reporting the suicide news is not aimed at creating an epidemic, but at instilling a sense of warning.
More than 100 studies have shown that suicide also has the risk of psychological contagion. In this sense, just as responsible reporting contributes to reducing additional suicide risks, irresponsible behavior can result in a wave of suicides. Careful coverage of suicide incidents can change perceptions, dispel myths, and educate the public about the complexity of the issue.
In order to prevent the possible Werther effect when sharing the news of suicide, it is recommended to follow the following rules:
Avoiding the precise description of the method or place of suicide, instead simply conveying that the death was suicide, giving general information about the place;
Not sharing a text of the suicide letter, instead of it, to simply note that a suicide letter was found and is in consideration;
Avoiding describing the personal issues of the person who commits suicide, giving only general information about him;
Avoiding presenting suicide as a common and accepted behavior in coping with difficulty, but instead note that coping skills, support, and treatment helped many people overcome this idea;
Not oversimplifying suicide, speculating the reason for the suicide, instead describing warning signals and risky factors of the suicide;
Avoid sensationalizing the suicide incident, just delivering the incident with facts and using sensitive language in order not to hurt the family members of the deceased;
Not glamorizing or romanticizing suicide. Not to associate suicide with heroism, honor, or loyalty to an individual or group;
Not to exaggerate the problem of suicide, to use neutral vocabulary such as "growth", and "increase" instead of the word "turning into an epidemic";
Avoid placing the suicide incident in the most important, noticeable part of the publication or broadcast.
Summary
As it seems, suicide news has infectious effects like terrorism and criminal news. In terms of this, it is vitally important for both professional media and citizen journalism to take the weakness and the complexity of the psychological state of the surrounding individuals into account. The purpose of the suicide news in responsible journalism is not to attract more audiences to the media organ with the sensational headlines but to prevent the next suicide.
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