It seems that the construct of mental health in the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” may not be receiving the proper attention after reading “Suicide Over the Screen.” According to WHO, the suicide rates internationally have increased 60 percent in the past 45 years. In the past the population at the highest risk was thought to be elderly men, but now the risk shifts downward to the main cause of death in 15-35 year olds in a third of countries. These countries include both developed and developing countries. The most significant data on suicide states that 3,000 deaths by suicide occur daily in the world.
Making the press a few days ago overseas in China is the emerging story of internet message boards providing a network for young Chinese students to talk about suicides. These suicide talks take place on “QQ”, which is China’s most popular online instant messaging board. Many young Chinese people come to the board to plan suicides together. Message posts such as “This is a pre-death party. Let me lead you to the hall of death,” are found throughout QQ. One Chinese student, Zhang of 22 years, said he wanted to die and asked if anyone else on the message board would like to join him. Responding to the request was 20 year old Fan. Zhang recently was rejected admission into a good university, according to Qianjiang Evening News. The two Chinese students decided to kill themselves by inhaling carbon dioxide in a hotel room. Zhang developed a severe headache from the carbon dioxide fumes and left the room. He opted out of the suicide. Zhang called the hotel later in the night, but Fan had already died.
These disturbing stories from the QQ message boards have caused public outcry. The company administering QQ forums was sued with ten percent of the responsibility of Chinese youths committing suicide for $8,347. Also, the company now has to censor, block, or delete messages including words such as “suicide or die” along with other information about suicide pacts of university students. “It’s the first time the court sentenced an Internet service provider for failing to exercise their duties as they have an obligation to control the use of harmful words,” said Liu Changqiu, a Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences researcher.
It may seem these underground suicide message boards and pacts are far from life in the United States or other western countries, but that is not true. Google has recently found forums on topics about suicide causing a couple suicide deaths.
An 82 year old retired teacher, Chen, contemplated suicide after breaking his legs but decided against it is now trying to save lives on suicide message boards like QQ. He replies on the suicide topics and tries to persuade the suicidal youth to not kill him or herself. Although Chen has received threats for his proactive behaviors, he says “I’m old and I don’t care,” and continues with his informal interventions. Even more alerting to Chen was that some people try to make money from suicidal people by selling them pills or drugs to complete the suicide.
Personally, I feel all the data describing the sharp rise in suicide is appalling. The idea that I have a hard time comprehending is the fact that all these deaths are preventable but thousands still take place. Suicide is not a disease like cancer. We have the resources at hand to stop suicidal individuals. We do not even have to look that far for help; just by realizing that you have the ability to help others can maybe deter more cases of suicide. Furthermore, malaria accounts for 2,800 deaths a day while suicide deaths are 3,000 per day. How could this be possible when malaria seems to have more attention than the suicide spikes? Something needs to be done for those 3,000 lives a day. No vaccine, bug nets, expensive medication, or high-technology surgeries are necessary to diminish the deaths caused by suicide; yet the numbers are so high.
When I was in high school I experienced a suicide death of a senior when I was a junior. I did not know the student personally, but the whole school and I were affected. No one thought such an act would happen in a Catholic school.
All is not lost however when addressing the issue of suicide and mental health. An important advocator of improving mental health internationally is the International Mental Health Research Organization (IMHRO). Since IMHRO’s beginnings in 1995 to present day, this organization has raised $114 million to help in mental health issues and thousands of individuals.
Sources:
Meilian, Lin. “Suicide Over the Screen.” Global Times. February 15, 2011. http://special.globaltimes.cn/2011-02/621714.html
Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948. Retrieved 15 February 2011 from http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html
International Mental Health Research Organization (2011). http://www.imhro.org/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/
Writer, Stew. (2007). “Food and Health Top 10 Worst Diseases.” ListVerse. Retrieved 15 February 2011 from http://listverse.com/2007/11/15/top-10-worst-diseases/
Justin, interesting and valuable post! You make a very good point about the relative numbers of suicide deaths and malaria deaths – a surprising statistic.
I wonder if it would be possible to add to your post, or to make a comment, about resources for people here in Boston or at BU, who might be contemplating suicide or having suicidal thoughts. Did you come across any such resources? the way the blog is working, it may be that someone has a automatic search for the word “suicide” so you may see some traffic along those lines from the general community, so having some resources might be very helpful.
I’m at the age where I have several friends whose children have committed suicide, and the devastation it leaves behind – for years and years – is hard to imagine. In most cases they had no idea that their child was so unhappy. They never, ever recover from the loss.
Thanks for the interesting post and the reminder about the scourge of suicide.
Prof Foster
Here at Boston Univeristy support has been implemeted for such mental health illnesses. If students are having any issues or concerns with their mental well being the Student Health Services at BU have a Behavioral Science department. In this area of mental health workshops, support groups, and clinicians are available for the student population. Each support group has a specific focus such as students with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, or grief. Another useful tactic to combat more serious mental health problems is Cognitive Behavorial Therapy (CBT) which BU offers. CBT is a phsychological therapy trying to modify behavior which leads to new insights, eventaully leading to more control over one’s life. Also, a few months ago Bu had a national depression screening day weher I volunteered to advertise the free depression screenings at Sargent College. During that week BU Today also produced a video shedding some light on depression around the campus by interviewing students. The best way to end the suicide spikes and undiagnosed mental health concerns is to get more information out to the public so individuals with disorders might not be afraid to ask for help. We need to end the mental disorder stigma that people have held for too long. Help is out there and a better have does follow.
Yeah, I went to high school with Justin Pennisi and the suicide was shocking because I never thought it could happen to my school.
Justin, this is a very thought provoking article. I am amazed of the high increase of suicide in the world and the fact that with the higher rate there is still not enough education and resources to stop this trend. I am glad that BU offers support to their community and this blog is a great resource of information.
Justin,
I thought this was a very interesting article, and I would have to agree that the numbers surprised me. I knew suicide was a large issue that wasn’t given much attention, but I did not realize that the most recent figures were about 3,000 deaths per day due to suicide. And the fact that this number is higher than malaria is even more surprising and concerning. I actually had a good friend who took her own life two years ago. It was a really hard time because I was up here at school and most of our friends were all away at college, but we all made it home for her services. For quite a while all I could think about was how could she not know how many people loved her and cared about her. No one knew she was struggling as badly as she was, for a while she had been getting help but everything seemed better. Since her death, a teacher at my high school, who she was really close with, has started a program called Lines of Love. It is designed to give young adults who are struggling information about where to get help, and to provide them with support and help them realize how much they are loved. Lines of Love was founded to try and help teens realize that suicide is not the only option. Suicide is something that has affected my life, and it is something that I think often slides under the radar as far as prevention. We need more people and organizations out there to help people see that they have other options and life is worth living. Thank you for posting this and bringing it to everyone’s attention.
Corcoran Downey