22 Comments
User's avatar
Sean Corcoran's avatar

Really scary, Rea! I'm glad I was older when I experienced ideations - though I barely survived them then.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

I didn't know about this before I lost Emile to suicide, Sean. I barely survived my suicidal ideation. It is an evil monster. I am so happy we survived! <3

Deer Girl's avatar

So strange—and heartbreaking. I’ve heard of this phenomenon before, but it’s puzzling to understand.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

I think it is children with suicidal ideation and it gives them courage to complete it. Sadly.

Chano's avatar

Absolutely heartbreaking! I agree, that suicide prevention

is critical.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

I've been involved with prevention, but it doesn't seem to help. Thank you, Chano.

Marisol Muñoz-Kiehne's avatar

Some, we can’t help stop.

Some we can, so try we must.

Help heal the heartbreak.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Thank you, Marisol! 🧡

Aurelia Katete's avatar

Thank you. This is helpful information.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Thank you for reading and commenting, Aurelia. I only learned about this after my son' suicide.

The 10th Storier's avatar

This is so scary. And it's perfectly understandable to me. Sorry about Emile.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Thank you my friend.

Terry Angelos's avatar

I was not aware of this tragic phenomenon. I imagine social media has amplified this immeasurably.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

It won't surprise me, Terry

Aaron Sorensen's avatar

I’m sorry about your son. We don’t always know about the attempts, we generally only hear about the successes. Years after my son died and I opened up about how I was doing, people started sharing their losses and issues in their lives that most people didn’t know about. One student at my school approached me to tell me about her own suicide attempt a few years prior. I’m fairly certain I only know about a fraction of it.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

I wrote several articles about my loss in national newspapers here in South Africa, and the response was phenomenal. The amount of pain in the world breaks my heart. So many people are suffering from the loss of a child. Thank you for your kind words, Aaron. Sending love and peace.

Beth L. Gainer's avatar

Hi Rea,

I'm so sorry about Emile. There are no words.

I'm not exactly sure why generally suicide spreads when at least one person commits it. Like you said, there is copycat behavior, but it's still a mystery to me.

The media is partially to blame, but I'm sure that the community hears about the suicides even before the media picks up a story.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

That's true, Beth. The neighbours in the area were at the scene where he was found. We knew the children who followed him. I tried to burn the tree down, but it refused to die. Suicide destroys everything in its wake. Thank you. 🙏

Nancy Hesting's avatar

I have heard of such occurrences. It's very scary.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

It's heartbreaking, Nancy.

Esther Stanway-Williams's avatar

Interesting….