Talking Suicide

Abstract

The present article discusses intimate conversations about suicide that are pursued on the Internet. Computer-mediated communication has made it possible for participants to remain anonymous and, simultaneously, enter into a public space to share personal thoughts about a stigmatized and taboo subject. This has also created new and unique opportunities to study a type of communication that was previously very difficult to access. Most of the participants on the studied forum are teenagers or young adults who communicate based on a need to recognize themselves in others, and to receive acknowledgement for their thoughts, feelings and experiences, thereby gaining acceptance and understanding. However, there are also destructive elements in the form of an exchange of suicide methods and participants exhorting each other to go ahead with their suicide plans. Moreover, participants are able to practise suicide behaviour in a mediated, conversational form, thereby making the act seem less fearful. The participants are furthermore involved in constructing and re-constructing a counter-discourse in which established society's perceptions and values concerning suicide are questioned, as expressed in a critique against public institutions, mainly psychiatry.

A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and suicidal behaviour in young people: The good, the bad and the unknown

“…Fourteen articles [ 15 – 19 , 51 – 59 ] related to forums (five content analysis articles). For this review forum use was defined as the use of dedicated support forums, separate from social media sites.…”

“…In total, nine papers (five independent studies) reported positive results; one high quality content analysis [ 16 ] and four medium and low quality small studies [ 15 , 51 – 57 ]. Five studies reported both positive and negative results; one high quality [ 58 ] and four medium and low quality [ 17 – 19 , 59 ]. All the studies recruited via dedicated discussion forums.…”

Proscribed communities. A reflection on the possibilities of virtual ethnography

“…Se tienen en cuenta la dimensión simbólica de la componente discursiva de los textos analizados, así como las relaciones que se dan en estas Webs y Blogs, las cuales se conciben como un campo homogéneo con una cultura pro-anorexia compartida. En el tercer caso; "Talking Suicide" (Westerlund, 2013), se abordan los colectivos online pro-suicidio desde la perspectiva etnográfica. En concreto se analiza un foro integrado por individuos con estas tendencias, que comparten información entre ellos.…”

“…Como puede observarse en los trabajos citados, el investigador no se limita a un mero análisis documental, sino que se sumerge de lleno en el fenómeno que quiere estudiar. Así logra empatizar con los sujetos investigados y descubrir que forman comunidades con una fuerte identidad colectiva y unas pautas culturales identificables (Casadó i Marín, 2014;Deiana, 2011;Westerlund, 2013).…”

“…Para ello se lleva a cabo una revisión bibliográfica del estado de la cuestión detallándose tres casos en concreto que ejemplifican las principales características de los estudios observados, tres investigaciones que a través de la etnografía virtual analizan los fenómenos de la autolesión, la anorexia y el suicidio respectivamente: "Trabajo de campo en comunidades virtuales pro self-harm" (Casadó i Marín, 2014), "Nadie dijo que fuera fácil ser una princesa: Una etnografía virtual de las web Pro-ana" (Deiana, 2011) y "Talking Suicide" (Westerlund, 2013).…”