Suicide Cluster

Also described as suicide contagion.

The term 'suicide cluster' describes a situation in which more suicides than expected occur in terms of time, place, or both.

This contagion effect is known as the Werther effect or copycat, and can be defined as the imitative effect that arises from social learning, in which a vulnerable person identifies with another person who has died by suicide and emulates their behavior.

In one such case in 2008, seventeen youths around Bridgend, South Wales, committed suicide.

The first death was a boy who was found hanged in a disused building. There were further deaths in February, August, December, and January that year.

Two cousins hanged themselves, and a teenage girl was found hanging at a local beauty spot.

Concern over the deaths prompted the Welsh Assembly Government in Cardiff to prepare a suicide prevention action plan.

Parents voiced their concern, targeting the media that ran the story on their front pages. One mother said the press put the idea in her son's head.

Research shows that after articles ran in the media about suicide, there seems to be an increase in suicides. More than 50 studies supported this claim.

Last year, four children committed suicide within 10 days in a school in South Africa. School authorities and parents were baffled and couldn’t find any reason for this occurrence.

The tree where my son, Emile, hanged himself claimed three more young people within a few years.

Health officials stressed the fact that children who already suffer from suicidal ideation could be triggered by reading about other suicides. It was found that individuals with a recent history of suicide attempt and/or a concurrent severe depression are more likely to attempt suicide in the wake of a media report.

Parents are urged to keep an eye out for when suicide occurs in their area and when their children suffer from suicidal ideation.

Namaste