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Media, Suicide and Contagion: Safe Reporting as Suicide Prevention

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Suicide by Self-Immolation

Abstract

Suicide stories capture attention. Media reporting of suicides is the subject of widespread study, especially in terms of its contagion effects in at-risk individuals. Research findings of studies that examine media reporting of suicide practices identify both harmful and protective effects. This chapter will highlight the current trends and impact of media reporting of suicides on different groups and consider possible contributing factors to harmful reporting. We will also examine concepts of safe (protective) reporting and discuss the evidence base for safe suicide reporting interventions. Lastly, we will address relevant prevention strategies and challenges.

Reporters get numbed after a long time, we no longer experience the nausea, appetite loss or insomnia as when we first started. It’s just that I don’t want to be emotionally insensitive. I deeply feel the grief of the family members in the tragedy. There was no need to expose the private affairs of others, I did not want to let the family members of the deceased feel pain.

(translated excerpt from Sin Chew Daily, “Interviewing Suicide Cases” by senior reporter, Ooi Lye Lau)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pantai Hospital Penang, Penang, Malaysia

    Yin Ping Ng

  2. Suicide Prevention Research Malaysia (SUPREMA), National University (UKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Yin Ping Ng, Ravivarma Rao Panirselvam & Lai Fong Chan

  3. Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Hospital Miri, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Ravivarma Rao Panirselvam

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Lai Fong Chan

  5. Malaysian National Representative of the International Association of Suicide Prevention (IASP), WA, USA

    Lai Fong Chan

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  1. Yin Ping Ng
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  2. Ravivarma Rao Panirselvam
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  3. Lai Fong Chan
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Correspondence to Yin Ping Ng .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    César A. Alfonso

  2. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, Bengaluru, India

    Prabha S. Chandra

  3. IPPG, Klinikum der Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Thomas G. Schulze

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Ng, Y.P., Panirselvam, R.R., Chan, L.F. (2021). Media, Suicide and Contagion: Safe Reporting as Suicide Prevention. In: Alfonso, C.A., Chandra, P.S., Schulze, T.G. (eds) Suicide by Self-Immolation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62613-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62613-6_17

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