Experts Seek to Understand “Contagious Suicide”

Following a CBS Evening News story, theLos Angeles Times (11/9,  http://tinyurl.com/contagious-suicide, Adams) reports that researchers are seeking “to understand how suicide spreads within communities.” The “term ’suicide contagion’” is used by experts “to describe the spread of suicidal thoughts among a group of people that results in such copycat acts.” Experts say that “in suicide clusters,” people “already in crisis” are “moved to act by exposure to a peer committing suicide.” Currently, “the CDC provides guidlines ( http://tinyurl.com/youth-suicide-prevention) for schools or other communities about how to respond to one or more suicides, including identifying high-risk individuals and providing counseling,” as well as “reducing any predisposing risks in the school environment, such as bullying or social isolation.”