Public Suicide Research Articles

일본 중세 설화 속 출가자(出家者)의 자살과 왕생

This paper examines the characteristics of religious suicide, which is a representative example of altruistic suicide, focusing on the tales of suicide and rebirth in Japanese medieval folk tales. The Middle Ages in Japan was a time when Buddhism was popularized and everyone dreamed of rebirth. The strong desire for rebirth gave rise to a unique culture of suicide rebirth, and religious suicide became a sensationally popular topic not only among monks but also among the general public. The suicides of monks included in the collection of tales were sublimated into religious rituals and were carried out according to established procedures in the presence of monks and bystanders. Due to the nature of suicide as a public suicide performed at a scheduled time and according to rituals and procedures, a contradiction arose where one had to commit suicide as scheduled even if the desire to survive arose. It can be said that the story of suicide and rebirth clearly reveals Japan's unique view of life and death that readily approves suicide, as well as the human limitations of not easily throwing away one's life despite the justification that it is a religious suicide.

Hybrid Text Representation for Explainable Suicide Risk Identification on Social Media

Social media data that characterize users can provide mental health signals, including suicide risks. Existing methods for suicide risk identification on social media have demonstrated promising results; however, the limitation of existing methods is that they are unable to capture low-and high-level features with complex structured data on social media and are incapable of explaining the predicted labels. Explainable models are more useful when translated, so we aimed to evaluate a novel method that would produce explainable models. This article presents a hybrid text representation method that integrates word and document-level text representations to explain suicide risk identification on social media. The proposed method is then fed to a transformer-based encoder with ordinal classification to determine suicide risk. Our results show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art baselines with an FScore of 0.79 (an absolute increase of 15%) on a public suicide dataset. Our method shows that an explainable model can perform at a comparable level to the best nonexplainable models but has advantages if translated for use in clinical and public health practice.

Youths' attitudes toward open discussion of suicide, preferred contexts, and the impact of Internet use: An exploratory sequential mixed-methods study in Hong Kong.

Although the necessity and benefits of having the open and public discussion about suicide have been recognized, youths' opinions regarding such discussion remain unknown. To explore youths' attitudes toward open suicide discussion, particularly concerning their preference of discussion contexts and impacts of Internet use. This exploratory sequential mixed-methods study targeted Hong Kong youths aged 15 to 19. A total of six focus groups and 12 individual interviews were held (N = 40). Topics included adolescents' views of open suicide discussion, concerns, perceived benefits, and preferred contexts. The questionnaire survey (N = 1,676) was conducted subsequently to investigate the prevalence of youths' perspectives on public discussion of suicide and relationships with discussion contexts, use of social media platforms, and motivations of online expression. Qualitative findings revealed three types of attitudes toward open suicide discussion: reluctance, support, and indifference. Major barriers included cultural norms, topic sensitivity, privacy concerns, contagion effect, fear of embarrassment, and unpleasant experiences in school programs. Results of quantitative analyses showed that reluctance was the dominant attitude among adolescents, and taboo was the top concern. Variations in youths' attitudes were related to gender, school academic banding, and suicide-related experiences. Notably, adolescents who had been exposed to suicide messages in contexts of peer networks and online platforms were more likely to endorse open suicide discussion. In addition, an increased likelihood of engaging in public suicide discussion was associated with the use of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, and the motive of 'expressing emotions and opinions' online. Our results indicated a prevalent rejection among adolescents toward open suicide discussion, suggesting the issue of stigma, the need for tailored programs, the value of appropriate contexts, and the impact of Internet use. These findings may facilitate the development of school-based suicide prevention initiatives and the efficacy of online services for suicide-related communication.

Social Reactions After Disclosing Suicide Loss Among Women.

Background: Suicide loss is often concealed. While initial evidence suggests that disclosure is important for healthy grieving, observed beneficial effects may depend on social reactions. Aim: The current study aimed to identify social reactions and associated consequences experienced by persons who lost a loved one to suicide (i.e., suicide loss survivors). Method: We conducted qualitative interviews with 22 female adult suicide loss survivors focusing on social reactions after suicide loss. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: When talking about their loss with others, suicide loss survivors experienced a broad range of social reactions including compassionate and supportive responses, speechlessness and insecurity, curiosity and gossip, stigmatization, and grieving expectations. Depending on these social reactions, disclosing suicide loss was associated with both negative and positive long-term effects. Limitations: The findings are limited to the current female sample. Conclusion: Interventions that help suicide loss survivors in finding supportive confidants, combined with public interventions to decrease public suicide stigma and improve the public's readiness to provide helpful support to suicide loss survivors, could improve grieving outcomes among this group.

Association between race and socioeconomic factors and suicide-related 911 call rate

The American 911 emergency call system fulfills a unique role in preventing suicide and is universally available to all residents suffering a mental health crisis. Previous studies have found disparities between socioeconomic and racial groups in mental health treatment and in help-seeking behaviors. However, very few studies have analyzed disparities in the use of the 911 system for mental health or suicidal crises. The present study conducted negative binomial regression analyses to determine if an increase in suicide-related 911 call rate is associated with race and socioeconomic characteristics in Western King County, Washington. We used the geographic locations of 4823 suicide-related calls from January 2019 to June 2020 to contrast against 2019 demographic data from the Census Bureau. We found increased percentage of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), residents relying on private health insurance, and lower education levels were associated with a decreased suicide-related 911 call rate. We found residents relying on public health insurance to be associated with an increased suicide-related 911 call rate. Future research should explore how residents use 911 in mental health crises to further improve public suicide prevention efforts. Our findings demonstrate how areas with poor health care options may rely more on the 911 system amidst a suicidal crisis.

Two sides of the same coin? The association between suicide stigma and suicide normalisation.

Evidence suggests that suicide stigma (i.e. negative attitudes towards persons affected by suicide/suicidality) and suicide normalisation (i.e. liberal attitudes towards suicide) are both associated with increased suicide risk. Despite conceptual similarities and potential interaction, suicide stigma and suicide normalisation have usually been investigated separately. We used cross-sectional data from a community sample to test the association between suicide stigma and suicide normalisation as well as to identify their respective determinants and consequences. Participants were N = 3.269 adults recruited from an established online-panel using quotas to reflect the composition of the German general population with regard to age, gender, education and region. We collected information about suicide stigma, suicide normalisation, intentions to seek help for suicidality, current suicidality, suicide literacy, negative mood and socio-demographic variables. We used regression modelling to determine the association between suicide stigma and suicide normalisation as well as to identify their determinants and consequences. Suicide stigma and suicide normalisation were inversely associated so that higher suicide stigma scores were linked to lower suicide normalisation. More suicide stigma was associated with reduced intentions to seeking professional help, increased willingness to seek help from family and friends and lower odds to experience current suicidality, however the association between suicide stigma and intentions to seek professional help diminished after controlling for confounding variables. Increased suicide normalisation was linked to reduced intentions to seek help from professionals or family and friends, as well as higher odds to experience current suicidality, even after controlling for confounding variables. Our findings suggest that interventions to reduce public suicide stigma are at risk to unintentionally increase suicide normalisation, which appears to be a key barrier to seeking help for suicidality. Future research should therefore identify strategies to improve attitudes towards persons affected by suicidality that avoid normalisation, i.e. do not convey the message of suicide as an acceptable solution for difficult life situations. One strategy with great potential to safely reduce public suicide sigma could be interventions that stimulate interpersonal contact with affected persons sharing their recovery story.

Perceived Suicide Stigma and Associated Factors in Chinese College Students: Translation and Validation of the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivors Scale.

This study aims to translate and validate two perceived suicide stigma scales, including the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale (STOSA) and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivor Scale (STOSASS) into Chinese language, examining the factor structure, and assessing the correlation between suicide stigma and a series of variables. After translating and back translating the STOSA and STOSASS, an online survey was administrated to 412 college students in China. These two scales were tested for their dimensionality in a series of confirmatory factor analyses. A series of regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors that are associated with perceived and public suicide stigma, including demographics, psychological distress, suicidality, suicide exposure, and perceived entitativity of suicide ideators, decedents, and survivors. The results showed that the two translated scales, STOSA and STOSASS, were reliable (Cronbach’s α = 0.79~0.83) and valid in Chinese contexts and it can be treated as unidimensional scales. Suicidality, exposure to suicide, and perceived entitativity of suicide-related persons were significantly associated with higher endorsement of public suicide stigma (SOSS Stigma, p < 0.03), but not perceived stigma (STOSA, STOSASS). Higher levels of psychological distress were associated with both higher perceived and public suicide stigma (p < 0.05).

Public Stigma Toward Persons with Suicidal Thoughts—Do Age, Sex, and Medical Condition of Affected Persons Matter?

Suicidal persons often face public stigmatization which affects help-seeking behavior and may lead to an additional suicide risk. There is not much known about differences in stigmatizing attitudes concerning characteristics of affected persons. The present study investigates public stigma toward suicidal persons in Germany by focussing on differences concerning sex, age, and medical condition of the affected person. A national telephone survey (N=2,002) was conducted using case vignettes presenting a person with suicidal thoughts. Vignettes systematically varied in sex, age, and medical condition (depressive symptoms vs. cancer). Several components of stigma were assessed ("weakness of will" as a cause, separation, negative emotional reactions, and desire for social distance). About 44% of the respondents agreed that a cause of suicidal thoughts is "weakness of will," and two thirds disagreed that they would feel and think the same as the described person. In terms of emotional reactions, fear was more pronounced than anger. Stigmatizing attitudes were particularly pronounced when the described person was female and depressive symptoms were presented. Magnitude of public suicide stigma varies depending on the characteristics of the described person. Groups that are at special risk of being stigmatized should be considered in antistigma programs.

Anticipated Suicide Stigma, Secrecy, and Suicidality among Suicide Attempt Survivors.

Suicidal behavior is stigmatized, and suicide attempt survivors often keep their experiences secret. Although secrecy can protect from discrimination, research from related fields suggests that both the experience of stigma and secrecy can contribute to suicidality. Although suicide attempt survivors are at high risk for reattempt, research investigating the link between suicide stigma and suicidality among this group is rare. A community sample of 159 suicide attempt survivors participated in an online survey in the US. We used multiple linear regression models to test the association between anticipated suicide stigma and current suicidality, as well as a path model to test the mediating effect of secrecy. After controlling for age, sex, number of lifetime suicide attempts, and time since the most recent suicide attempt, anticipated suicide stigma was significantly associated with increased suicidality. In a controlled path model, this link was partially mediated by increased secrecy. These results provide initial support that anticipated suicide stigma, and secrecy can contribute to suicidality among suicide attempt survivors. Therefore, programs to support suicide attempt survivors in coping with suicide stigma and secrecy, as well as interventions to reduce harmful aspects of public suicide stigma, could contribute to suicide prevention.

Threatened suicide and baiting crowd formation: a replication and extension of Mann (1981)

ABSTRACTUsing the lens of Deindividuation Theory, Leon Mann explored the formation of baiting crowds in a small sample of public suicides/suicide attempts. Instead of attempting to prevent the suicide, baiting crowds encourage the victim to jump. Our aim was to replicate Mann's study with a larger more diverse sample of suicide attempts and a broadened theoretical lens (Frustration-Aggression). Using ProQuest, we identified 152 public suicide attempts reported in English language newspapers and failed to replicate Mann’s findings. Rather, baiting crowd formation was associated with variables that increase crowd frustration (e.g., duration of the event, blocked traffic, cordoned off pedestrian walkways). Finally, we failed to find an association between the presence of a baiting crowd and the suicidal individual ultimately jumping.

The Question about the Motives of the Assassination of P. A. Stolypin

The assassination attempt on the life of P. A. Stolypin, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, on September 1, 1911 in Kyiv, made by D. G. Bogrov, a former member of the Kyivan organization of anarchists-communist and secret agent of the Kyiv Security Section of the Police Department, can be considered one of the most mysterious events in the history of late imperial Russia. Despite a large number of published archival documents on the history of this case, in modern historical science there is no unambiguous answer to the questions about the true motives that pushed D. G. Bogrov to commit this violent murder. According to the author, in the motives of the assassination of P. A. Stolypin by D. G. Bogrov, the factor of nationality of the terrorist played some role. D. G. Bogrov, a typical representative of the assimilated Russian-Jewish intellectuals did not become a convinced revolutionary; instead he lacked public recognition of his personal ambitions to satisfy which having the status of a Jewish citizen appeared to be not so simple. Public suicide in the form of an assassination attempt on the life of the famous Russian reformer became for D. G. Bogrov a tragic finale in his painful processes of finding ways to overcome the crisis of identity.&#x0D; Keywords: D. G. Bogrov, P. A. Stolypin, Kyiv, Jews, Russian empire, terrorism, anarchism

Making Sense of the Public Stigma of Suicide.

Research suggests that stigma is a barrier to care for individuals who have attempted suicide. While extensive work has examined the stigma of mental illness, less research has focused on the public stigma of suicide. Existing measures of suicide stigma have lacked a conceptual foundation or have failed to include the perspectives of suicide stakeholders. This research draws on previous qualitative research with suicide stakeholders to create a measure of public suicide stigma. This study used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to define a factor structure for suicide stigma. The CBPR team used focus groups to generate items for each component of stigma (stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination). Two online surveys (N = 372; N = 243) asked members of the public to rate candidate items for stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Analyses revealed three factors for stereotypes (weak, crazy, distressed), two factors for prejudice (fear/distrust, anger), and three for discrimination (avoidance, disdain, coercion). Results should be confirmed in other samples and further evidence gathered on convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity. The resulting 44-item Suicide Stigma Assessment Scale (SSAS) can be further validated and used to measure efficacy of stigma change interventions.

Relationship between Village Public Safety Officer Presence and Suicide Incidence in Western Alaska (2004–11).

Relationship between Village Public Safety Officer Presence and Suicide Incidence in Western Alaska (2004–11).

The Intersections of Protest Suicides, Oppression and Social Justice

This paper focuses on protest suicides that highlight oppression and influence collective action for social justice and change. A few cases and contexts of protest suicides from the 1960s onwards are used to demonstrate this intersectionality. I address two types of protest suicides: first, the protest public suicide that is predominantly enacted in the public space and draws attention to the suicide victim and the oppression that the suicide victim represents or is alleged to represent. Second, the cumulative suicide where individuals commit suicide privately but because of the sheer cumulative number of those who do so due to a shared grievance, society is obliged to take notice. I examine the cultural, social, economic and political underpinnings of a society in determining the propensity to commit such an act and also in shaping societies reaction. The paper concludes by indicating the need for further comparative research on these complex intersection s Keywords: Public protest suicide. Cumulative suicide. Self-immolation. Oppression. Social justice. Intersectionality

The impact of economic austerity and prosperity events on suicide in Greece: a 30-year interrupted time-series analysis

ObjectivesTo complete a 30-year interrupted time-series analysis of the impact of austerity-related and prosperity-related events on the occurrence of suicide across Greece.SettingGreece from 1 January 1983 to 31 December 2012.ParticipantsA...

Predictors of help-seeking for suicidal ideation in the community: Risks and opportunities for public suicide prevention campaigns

Help-seeking behaviour for suicidality is low and the reasons for this have not systematically been examined. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between suicide stigma, suicide literacy and help-seeking attitudes and intentions. One thousand two hundred seventy-four Australian adults recruited via Facebook completed an online survey assessing a range of mental health outcomes. High suicide literacy and low suicide stigma were significantly associated with more positive help-seeking attitudes and, among a subsample of 534, greater intentions to seek help. Attribution of suicide to isolation was associated with more positive attitudes toward help-seeking and greater intentions to seek help, while respondents experiencing suicidal ideation had more negative attitudes toward help-seeking and lower intentions to seek help. Lower depressive symptoms, older age and female gender were associated with more positive help-seeking attitudes and higher help-seeking intentions. However, there were differential associations of specific suicide knowledge items and specific stigmatising attitudes with help-seeking outcomes; suggesting a nuanced approach may be required to promote help seeking for suicidality. Suicide knowledge and attitudes play an important role in the help-seeking process for suicide and should be carefully considered in the development of public awareness campaigns.

Yukio Mishima, the Unambiguous, and Myself: Living through a Writer’s Legacy*

The recent release by Criterion on DVD of Paul Schrader’s film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters(1985) and Mishima’s own film Patriotism(1965) has caused the author of this essay to reconsider his relationship with the late Japanese writers’ books and literary legacy. Believing that these fine films’ presence on DVD will stimulate much renewed discussion of Mishima both in the US and Japan, the author recalls his first discovery of Mishima’s existence shortly after his famous suicide in 1970, reading and responding to his literary output, and prodding famous authors such as Tennessee Williams and Cormac McCarthy for their thoughts on Mishima’s influence. The author’s two poems about Mishima are included to illustrate his changing inner perceptions of the internationally famous writer and the (now-fading) adverse reaction to his work in Japan caused by his politics and his virtually public suicide.

Gender differences in determinants of suicidal ideation in French-speaking community living elderly in Canada

To inform public health suicide prevention and mental health promotion campaigns, this study will carry out gender-specific analyses to ascertain the determinants of suicidal ideation or death thoughts in a large representative sample of community dwelling older adults. Data used in this study were from the ESA survey (Enquête sur la Santé des Aînés - Survey on the Health of the Elderly) on a large representative sample of community dwelling older adults (n = 2,494). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to study the association between suicidal ideation, mental health service, and antidepressant use and a number of clinical and socio-demographic factors. The prevalence of suicidal ideation reached 6.3%. The findings of this study show that the presence of suicidal ideation in females is associated with younger age, single or widowed status, the reporting of daily life stressors, and chronic conditions as well as the presence of major or minor depression in the past year. In males, suicidal ideation is associated with older age, single or widowed status, and depression. Furthermore, suicidal ideation is significantly associated with antidepressant use in females but not males and this after controlling for a number of clinical factors. Although no gender differences are observed between suicidal ideation and mental health service use, females with suicidal ideation are more likely to be dispensed antidepressants than males with suicidal ideation. Future research should focus on gender-specific determinants of antidepressant and mental health service use associated with suicidal ideation.

Burn: The Radical Disappearance of Kathy Change

Kathy Change was a performance artist whose outrageous public performances and leftist politics were largely ignored by the University of Pennsylvania students she performed for, until she set herself on fire. Her 1996 self-immolation prompts an inquiry into the effectiveness of public suicide as a mode of political performance.

PUBLIC SUICIDE AS A DEED OF OPTIONLESS INTIMACY

This article offers an ethnomethodological analysis of suicide practices in situ. By analyzing a videotaped record of a public suicide by a government official this article is able to examine the temporal relations between the unfolding suicide act and the situational contingencies arising from its interactional context. In the case examined, the suicide was planned as a ceremony, in part to indicate the official facing corruption charges. A press conference provided the pretext for the suicide ceremony in which the official intended to deliver a prepared speech to accuse his accusers and bid farewell to loved ones before shooting himself. Things turned out differently than he planned, though he did in the end shoot himself. The analysis focuses on how the audience's reaction to the imminent suicide foreclosed the suicide cermony while at the same time pre‐emptying the pre‐suicide speech deferring the impending suicide.