“Suicide Contagion & Suicide Clusters”,

Robert Olson in his article, “Suicide Contagion & Suicide Clusters”, talks about an incident where a teenager, Amanda Todd, whom committed suicide some time before his research. In his discussion he is concerned whether Amanda’s suicide which was followed by many mainstream television, radio and newspapers would incite suicidal contagion also referred to as the copycat suicide. Some of the main factors that provoked his study were the irresponsible social media use and cyber bullying with respect to the suicide itself. He argues that suicidal contagion and suicide clusters are related.

            According to Robert Olson, suicide clusters refer to multiple suicidal behaviors that occur within any accelerated timeframe. He goes on to discuss several types of suicide clusters, which include mass clusters and point clusters as the main suicide clusters and echo cluster as another form of suicide clusters. Mass cluster, involves he suicides which cluster within time irrespective of the geographical area. This cluster is often influenced by the media reports especially about the suicides by celebrities. Point clusters are those clusters which occur in an extended time after any original cluster. In his study he consults several research findings about the suicidal contagions and finally concludes that the matter of Amanda could cause issues of contagion even though she was not a celebrity. Point contagion was also considered as the major suicidal contagion among the teenagers.

            On the same matter Barbara Greenberg in her article, “Teen Suicide and Contagion” discusses about the suicidal contagion being caused by the relationship of the teenagers with their deceased parent, peer friends and school mates who had suicidal deaths. She consults the Canadian Medical Associations Journal that studied the subject matter. The study revealed that among the teenagers aged twelve to seventeen years, the twelve to thirteen year old teenagers were most affected. The main causes of these suicides are related to the teens getting the experience of life stressors, depression and anxiety. She suggests that the parents, the school personnel, and the society at large should consider talking to the teenagers about their emotional issues, providing the counseling, while not assuming of the teenagers memories about their deceased friends and relatives. Barbara Greenberg refers to the issue of teen suicide contagion and the teen committing suicide as the painful idea to think about.

            According to Headspace School support, the suicide postvention Toolkit in the guide for the secondary schools, suicide contagion is the by which one suicidal act that occurs within any school, geographical area or community causes the likelihood of the occurrence of the others. The suicide contagion causes the suicide clusters in which several suicides occurs after the initial death. The young people are especially vulnerable to this suicidal contagion since they strongly identify themselves strongly with their peers’ actions, and at the same time due to the adolescence period that they experience i.e. the period of mental and health problems that puts them at risk of committing suicide.

The factors that contribute to the risk of suicide among young people include: the stresses in life, contact with persons shortly before the person’s death, the preoccupied with death and dying thoughts and experiencing losses of their beloved ones through suicidal deaths. The suicidal contagion can be reduced by the community and schools identifying and monitoring those who are at high risks, appreciating, supporting and treating those who are at risk and appreciating the media reports about the suicides. The headspace school support suggests that professional support from the emergency departments and the local health services can enable keep young people safe, remove any suicide means available to the teenagers and within their vicinity as well as arranging for supervision of the affected until their assessment.

            Frank Zenere, in his article, “Suicide Clusters and Contagion” discusses the ways of dealing with suicidal contagion.  He refers to the youth suicide as one of the most serious but preventable health problem. He terms contagion as the process in which a suicidal behavior influences the others. He suggests that the suicidal contagion can easily be identified in schools since the adolescents in schools are more vulnerable to the contagion. He also adds that suicidal contagion can be avoided through the provision of appropriate outlets of grieving, engaging the community organizations such as schools, sport clubs, religious organizations and family in identifying and treating the individuals at risk of committing suicide.  He provides the procedure of identifying the contagion and the prevention effort that is required in the solution of the suicidal contagion.

            The study of teen suicide contagion is an interesting one. Although this idea is not common, it unfortunately exists among the early teenage ages. The discussed articles reveal that suicide contagion among the youth is caused mainly by the stresses they encounter in life.  Robert Olson suggests that committing of suicide by celebrities can highly increase contagion of suicide among the youth. He also adds that the media reports and irresponsible use of social media can elevate the suicide contagion. He is basically concerned about the effect of the social media in the contagion of teenage suicide. Contrary to Robert Olson, the headspace school support argues that the media reports can aid in identifying the victims who are at high risk of committing suicide. The Frank Zenere’s article is particularly concerned about the solution of the suicidal contagion problem rather than the causes of the same. The four articles highly suggest that the community at large is responsible for the identification and treatment of the suicide contagion among the teenagers.