This is such a chilling and frightening development, crossing so many lines. It seems to reflect so many undesirable parts of our society. It is also so public and private at the same time — imagine the psychology of showing off one’s death in a medium that makes it hard to trace it while it is happening. Imagine the psychology of those who watched — more on these later. I can’t conceive of ever being more out of control if I happened upon such a web broadcast because I wouldn’t know what is the equivalent of a web-based 911 number. We need to be more responsible for each other. A suicidal crisis may seem permanent at the time but it is usually not. Families need to know each other as much as possible, to take signs of depression and behavioral shifts very seriously and to insist on help. Many suicide hotlines exist. Use them. For immediate help also call 911. Use 911 if you know the web-cam suiciding person. For general information use the major mental health organization’s sections on depression, suicide and other disorders. Interventions and help do work.
12-2-08: Orlando Sentinel on suicide: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/health/orl-suicide0208dec02,0,7098739.story
The Broward County (Florida) cyber suicide provoked many levels of concern. www.wiredtrust.com suggested a means for people to take responsibility with such internet suicide and similar presentations. They write: ”In November 2008, Abraham Biggs, 19, took his life on the Internet while people watched and did nothing. Parry Aftab, of WiredTrust.com, shares some steps to take if you come across someone making a suicide threat on-line:
1. Take a screen capture and save a copy of the Web page
2. Copy the URL
3. Go to the Web site’s “Report Abuse” button
4. When reporting the incident, paste the URL into the body or attach the screen
capture document that you saved (or just tell them that you have a screen capture).
Be sure to let them know what time you saw the suicide threat and what time zone
you are in. “ http://www.wiredtrust.com/news_events/news.html#suicide
Filed under: Mental Health, Psychotherapy Notes | Tagged: cyber suicide, depression, Psychotherapy Notes, suicide, suicide intervention, suicide prevention, web-cam suicide
