In Depth with Dan: How we talk about suicide can save lives

One thing I believe in, regardless of the topic, is that words matter. According to research on suicide, on this topic the words we choose can be a matter of saving lives.

Posted 10:50 p.m. May 2 — Updated 11:26 p.m. May 2

Dan Haggerty

, WRAL anchor/reporter

One thing I believe in, regardless of the topic, is that words matter. According to research on suicide, on this topic the words we choose can be a matter of saving lives.

So far this school year, seven students have died by suicide at North Carolina State University, out of a student body of about 35,000 students. Two of them died last week, on the same day.

Statistically, that is a lot. It is about twice as many as you’d expect from that same age and population size within that timeframe.

Humanely, even one death is an absolute tragedy that unleashes untold amounts of misery and pain for so many people.

Stories of suicide have been difficult to cover, and not only because of the obvious reasons.

Many newsrooms simply didn’t report on suicide. You learn in journalism school about "suicide contagion," described by the American Association of Suicidology as “the process by which one or more suicides increase the risk of suicidal behavior in others.” We are taught that simply talking about it could be bad.

It’s a theory that dates back to the late 1700s when it was called the “Werther effect” because of fears surrounding the impact of a novel called “The Sorrows of Young Werther," which detailed a character’s suicide. When the book became popular, police started investigating possible copycat suicides, and the book was banned in many countries throughout Europe.

That was 250 years ago.

To this day, the media generally does not cover suicides and has been bad at covering high profile deaths.

Columbia University found that suicides spiked 10 percent after Robin Williams died in 2014, and when researchers looked even closer, the specific way that Williams died spiked 32 percent.

The American Psychological Association shared findings that “the media likely played a role in approximately 10 percent of suicide deaths of people younger than 25 – either by giving youths the idea ... or by providing youths already contemplating suicide with information about a specific method.”

Perhaps one of the saddest findings is that even honoring a person who has died by suicide can harm others.

Professor Jonathan Singer of Loyola University in Chicago is an expert in the field of suicide research and the former president of the American Association of Suicidology. He recommends that memorials at a schools or on the news or even on your Facebook page should be short and temporary.

“It was a sense of glorifying the person and the death. In a way that I think, in the moment, felt like it was building community, but for anybody who was thinking, well, nobody likes me now, maybe they’ll love me if I’m dead, that can actually increase suicide risk," Singer says.

So what can and should the media do? We've tried not reporting on suicide, and that did not work.

The consensus from experts is that words matter. That doesn’t just apply to those of us who report the news. It applies to conversations with parents and friends and to your posts on social media. They recommend:

Never describe a method or location of a suicide.
Never describe the contents of a suicide note.
Don’t describe personal details about the person who died – which will be a difficult rule to follow when you lose a loved one.
Don’t try to explain their motive – or speculate about their motive.
Avoid sensationalizing or glamorizing suicide.
Never describe suicide as a common or acceptable response to hardship.

Even if we're careful about the words we choose, it’s unclear how much it will help.

That can leave you feeling quite helpless. We want answers. We want solutions, We want to know what are we doing wrong, so we can fix it and make it better.

Singer said, “I will say that we don’t know. There is no good answer for why suicide rates go up and why they go down.”

Here are the best recommendations I could find.

Talk to your kids or friends or siblings.
Listen.
Encourage people to use the resources that have proven to help save lives.

Get Help: County-by-county guide to mental health and crisis resources in NC

The National Suicide Prevention lifeline has proven very helpful and is always available by just calling 988.

But that’s just the first step for many people.

You can also find resources in your county, at the state level and some targeting for children or for caretakers.

In Depth with Dan is your safe space to ask the questions that you think the media ignores. If there is something you want to ask, send it to Dan@WRAL.com and I will get them to the experts. Then we will go In Depth.

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