How suicide is represented in the media

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

After watching a documentary about ctb yesterday, I started to think about something.

In most news reports and documentaries, they tend to focus on the suicides of young students, aged 18-22 usually, who are very charismatic, popular, loving family (on the surface at least), academically talented, loads of friends and they usually have a bf/gf as well. The typical, never saw it coming story.

However, I am beginning to wonder what percentage of suicides are that type of person I just described. Most of the prevention narratives seem to assume that you are in a situation where you have loving people around you who care, and you're suffering from a temporary affliction that will likely pass. I don't think this is reality.

They always focus on someone being beautiful and talented, but what if you are neither of those? While I'm not the world's ugliest girl, very few would tout me as beautiful. It is as if the attempts to include and support those who would be outcast and ostracised are total visages when the suicide prevention narrative only focuses on people who they describe in their own words as "normal boys/girls next door".

What was interesting to me was that in one of these documentaries, they got so close to recognising that there were societal factors at play when it came to the ctb of these people, but yet, the producers and the family members interviewed never seemed to acknowledge it. They were all convinced that the people who died were merely depressed and if they had taken more pills or talked to someone more they could have been helped.

Case in point, one of the deceased was a very accomplished academic studying at an extremely prestigious uni in the UK. The University is well known for putting far too much stress and pressure on its students, and he succumbed to the demanding nature of the institution. It was always his dream to study there, and it had just been crushed when he started doing poorly in school.

Another person on the documentary was in debt or something and was about to lose their flat due to back rent, at like 19 or 20 years old. Those aren't really temporary problems, more like longterm ones that have implications and consequences.

Of course I never see anyone in these programs who is chronically ill like me, no family, you get the gist. Feels like the depiction of the average suicidal person isn't really correct.

 

[LittleBabyNothing]

i can't remember where i saw it but there was a documentary on a young woman seeking legal euthanasia for mental health reason. Can't remember much about it now... maybe i made it up... anyone aware of this documentary?

 

[Birdie]

The media portrays what's convenient and will certainly sell... I wish it was more realistic..

 

[Zhontafly]

It's because these people, most of our society is willfully ignorant. They are lifers, addicted to the fantasy ideas of a perfect beautiful sunshine happiness world, though clearly living in a violent greedy war hungry nightmare. They simply refuse to see it the way it is and the pop culture brainwashing sedatives helps them cope and remain ignorant. We will likely never get them off the blue pill, the media and society is hopium addicted, lost in their own little safe space dream worlds while fighting tooth and nail against the reality we are born into. Luckily, nature will eventually bring this shit to and end. Finally the mad race of humanity extinct. GN humanity and good riddance!

 

[Mentalmick]

I'm pretty sure middle aged men are the highest group. Could be wrong.

 

[signifying nothing]

Would you want your suicide displayed all over the media though?

 

[262653]

It's that the documentary about the suicides of two boys and one girl, all conventionally attractive, smart and popular? It would be nice to hear the perspective of people behind that documentary, those who conducted it, the filming, cutting inconvenient parts, music, all that. The intention behind the documentary.

 

[Amumu]

I'm pretty sure middle aged men are the highest group. Could be wrong.

Rather old aged men over 60. Typically rural. While urban young women are the archetype of suicide attempts.

In brief, only showing young students committing suicide is disrespectful.

 

[Symbiote]

Watch the Bridge on Youtube. It shows different types of people that don't fit the media's narrative. You never hear about people of color or poor homeless dudes on the news that killed themselves nor are they given storied lives of success and grandeur. No one wants to hear about Old Average Joe who got hit by a train but spent years on the street corner begging for a sandwich.

 

[Makko]

Media shows need a minimum of drama. There's nothing dramatic about some depressed middle-aged everyman who kills themselves after being slowly backed into a corner by mundane life issues.

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

Watch the Bridge on Youtube. It shows different types of people that don't fit the media's narrative. You never hear about people of color or poor homeless dudes on the news that killed themselves nor are they given storied lives of success and grandeur. No one wants to hear about Old Average Joe who got hit by a train but spent years on the street corner begging for a sandwich.

Thanks, I'll check it out. I think it's important for these kinds of stories to be shown in the media, to show that some people truly have been dealt a shit hand in life and either cant be saved or no one wants to lift a finger to help or acknowledge them. Two birds with one stone.

Someone asked if I would want my life on display in a documentary, and I don't think I would. Not unless it would seriously change people's minds about the realities of having disabilities and chronic illnesses. Many authors and youtubers and such have pretty much had their works and thoughts snuffed out like a candle though when they killed themselves and wrote about the realities of their conditions.

In chronic illness communities, you must not espouse anything but hope. I read the story of a girl begging for euthanasia, tried over 20 or 30 treatments, abusive family, anyone who cared about her had died, she is clearly suffering so much in her life and wanted to be heard and understood. Yet all the comments were telling her, well have you tried *insert thing she has most definitely tried* and telling her that it gets better, when she specifically instructed people NOT to say that.

Feels like this world is a broken record.

 

[I want to end it]

The media tries to push an agenda and narrative to influence opinion for their own personal benefit. It's no surprise distrust in the media has increased a lot over recent years. I agree that's not what most ctbs are like. Those are a tiny minority.

 

[EmbraceOfTheVoid]

Doing stories on people that have been traumatized, have various physical/mental ailments, or live in perpetual poverty and homelessness would force them to acknowledge that life isn't a precious gift and that it isn't always worth living. The media and "normal" people constantly lie because living in denial is more convenient for themselves. Even people that seem functional on the surface within the confines of society can have some of the issues I listed above and I'd guarantee that many of those things are also omitted by both the family & media to make it seem like their problems were fixable. It's all a big joke really; the people left behind make up whatever narrative suits them so they feel better.

 

[Symbiote]

I'd say 70% of society consumes media and news outlets as their daily source of information. It saddens me when a person that killed himself was described as a loner, lonely, had a horrible home life, and abused as a child, the comments below always tell what society thinks of those people.

"Glad they killed themselves first before taking others out"
"Another potential mass shooter being responsible and offing himself first"
"What a weak stupid child!"
"<insert religious diatribe> Burn in hell!"

The comments are always negative, never constructive. Never thinking that one day it could happen to their own family. Media does an excellent job pulling on the emotional strings of society and wherever society is currently thinking, media adapts to it in relatable fashion. Will the media ever see suicide as an everyday issue? Not as long as there's a narrative that fits the current agenda. Whatever is needed to get ratings and rile up the audiences.

 

[DivineMedicus]

They probably include such samples to show that anyone is capable of committing suicide, no matter their life circumstances. By depicting these accomplished individuals, they're trying to tell their audience that even the mightiest can fall. I do agree that this undercoverage is a significant bias that the media must be accounted for, as it is a frankly dishonest representation of the target population they wish to describe.

 

[Neowise]

In most news reports and documentaries, they tend to focus on the suicides of young students, aged 18-22 usually, who are very charismatic, popular, loving family (on the surface at least), academically talented, loads of friends and they usually have a bf/gf as well. The typical, never saw it coming story.

Probably to arouse pity. It's the same with European media when showing footage of migrants landing their boats on the Greek coast. The cameras always film the 3 year old refugee girl with big brown eyes because no one cares that most of them are in fact young men.
So if a beautiful, talented and famous person commits suicide everyone sheds a tear, but if it's some 43 year old ugly idiot with no job (no offense) no one cares.
It's just for the pity, the clicks and the viewing figures. That is actually kinda sad.

 

[Zhontafly]

They want to maintain their brain dead illusion of life having sacred value (magically when its human life not 'souless' animals). Therefore they dont often give us the stories and images of people who have terrible lives of hardship and suffering with good sound and sane reason to end their life. It simply destroys the bullshit they are selling us.

 

[user667]

i fit the age but i failed out of school, have no friends, never dated, used to be popular but now everyone in town hates me, my family's okay so i guess that fits but no one can say they didn't see it coming. for years now i have done nothing but cry and try to kill myself. everyone knows it too because they all spread rumors when i attempted. so no ones allowed to say they didn't see it coming.

 

[NotOkay_]

After watching a documentary about ctb yesterday, I started to think about something.

In most news reports and documentaries, they tend to focus on the suicides of young students, aged 18-22 usually, who are very charismatic, popular, loving family (on the surface at least), academically talented, loads of friends and they usually have a bf/gf as well. The typical, never saw it coming story.

However, I am beginning to wonder what percentage of suicides are that type of person I just described. Most of the prevention narratives seem to assume that you are in a situation where you have loving people around you who care, and you're suffering from a temporary affliction that will likely pass. I don't think this is reality.

They always focus on someone being beautiful and talented, but what if you are neither of those? While I'm not the world's ugliest girl, very few would tout me as beautiful. It is as if the attempts to include and support those who would be outcast and ostracised are total visages when the suicide prevention narrative only focuses on people who they describe in their own words as "normal boys/girls next door".

What was interesting to me was that in one of these documentaries, they got so close to recognising that there were societal factors at play when it came to the ctb of these people, but yet, the producers and the family members interviewed never seemed to acknowledge it. They were all convinced that the people who died were merely depressed and if they had taken more pills or talked to someone more they could have been helped.

Case in point, one of the deceased was a very accomplished academic studying at an extremely prestigious uni in the UK. The University is well known for putting far too much stress and pressure on its students, and he succumbed to the demanding nature of the institution. It was always his dream to study there, and it had just been crushed when he started doing poorly in school.

Another person on the documentary was in debt or something and was about to lose their flat due to back rent, at like 19 or 20 years old. Those aren't really temporary problems, more like longterm ones that have implications and consequences.

Of course I never see anyone in these programs who is chronically ill like me, no family, you get the gist. Feels like the depiction of the average suicidal person isn't really correct.

I know the documentary you're on about. It's so sad how they push this image, makes us seem so irrational and the way the put the hotline numbers there as if that'll help anyone

 

[262653]

The media tries to push an agenda and narrative to influence opinion for their own personal benefit. It's no surprise distrust in the media has increased a lot over recent years. I agree that's not what most ctbs are like. Those are a tiny minority.

Aye. It's important to keep in mind that sources of media are controlled, so the information presented there could have went through the prism of personal benefits. I don't see how the most influential people in the world wouldn't want to influence public opinion in a certain way, since (as one interesting copypasta has pointed out) those who get at the top are the ones who are willing and capable of stomping over the needs of others, and establishing dominance over others.

Even people that seem functional on the surface within the confines of society can have some of the issues I listed above and I'd guarantee that many of those things are also omitted by both the family & media to make it seem like their problems were fixable. It's all a big joke really; the people left behind make up whatever narrative suits them so they feel better.

It's unfortunate that dead people don't have a say in the matter, cannot testify about the injustices and hardships they had to endure. If a young person gets abused at home and dies by suicide because of that, then family is free to make up their own story that puts themselves as angels and this forum as monsters, like in the recent case. As if their biological relatedness to a deceased individual somehow necessitates the truthfulness of their just-so stories.

They probably include such samples to show that anyone is capable of committing suicide, no matter their life circumstances. By depicting these accomplished individuals, they're trying to tell their audience that even the mightiest can fall. I do agree that this undercoverage is a significant bias that the media must be accounted for, as it is a frankly dishonest representation of the target population they wish to describe.

Another possible interpretation: if some pretty, athletic, smart, and popular young person has preferred to end life over continuing it, and what does it says about your (average viewer's) life?

 

[ashedout]

They definitely sell the narrative that fits their agenda. A suicidal person being a young adult with temporary problems that are a result of their own choices is easier to "fix" or promote band-aid solutions than recognize deep systemic societal issues that contribute to suicide. Delving into broader social issues that contribute to suicide puts the onus them (ie. everyone else) to see how they contribute to it and force change....which isn't going to happen any time soon. There's so many factors in play that lead up to someone deciding to suicide, but having a cookie cutter reason or group of people to exploit or a single thing to demonize and blame is a lot easier to stomach/sell.

 

[EmbraceOfTheVoid]

It's unfortunate that dead people don't have a say in the matter, cannot testify about the injustices and hardships they had to endure. If a young person gets abused at home and dies by suicide because of that, then family is free to make up their own story that puts themselves as angels and this forum as monsters, like in the recent case. As if their biological relatedness to a deceased individual somehow necessitates the truthfulness of their just-so stories.

Do you have a link to that specific story? I think I may have posted in a thread about that one but I never read the full story about it.

My own "family" would do the very same and I've said as much in my suicide note to them. They'll likely paint some pretty picture of themselves and pretend like they are innocent to try to absolve themselves of responsibility for their actions.

 

[NotOkay_]

Do you have a link to that specific story? I think I may have posted in a thread about that one but I never read the full story about it.

My own "family" would do the very same and I've said as much in my suicide note to them. They'll likely paint some pretty picture of themselves and pretend like they are innocent to try to absolve themselves of responsibility for their actions.

A bbc three doc on youtube

 

[bornfree]

the media are influenced by mental health charities. In my personal experience of working at a national mental health charity they had 3 paid members of staff dedicated to working with the media. I was part of a different team but had a lot of interaction with the media team and even fell in love with one of them. Topics like travel and mental health or hearing voices came across my desk to come up with research and information to inform the media requests. This built relationships between the charity and the media to influence the public.

In my role i would inform the media team on some of the debates to a degree but what the media team would do is push the charity's agenda. By influencing the media the charity influences the public and gets 'free' advertising (they pay the media team so it's not free). The media would likely contact the leading mental health charities as part of the process. These charities have lists of media volunteers who they vet as suitable to use. The media team themselves are not hired as experts in mental health rather for communication and relationship building qualities and they serve the objectives of the charity and that's about the objectives of the top echelons of the charity hierarchy.

Thus the media don't get fully informed. They don't get informed about radical perspectives or fringe movements as part of the process of how they inform themselves on a topic they're reporting on. They get informed by mainstream perspectives from mainstream top mental health charities who are pushing their agenda on the public by influencing the media.

They don't talk to the survivor movement for example - a human rights movement for and by survivors of psychiatric abuse. They don't get informed about the liberation movement and antipsychiatry. They don't get stories about those who kill themselves to escape from the cruelty of psychiatric care or are killed by psychiatric treatments like clozapine. They get what they are spoon fed from top mental health charities not radical perspectives that humanise suicidal individuals and sanction suicide. It's the same with government and mental health policy where again the top charities have a dedicated policy and campaigns team. The charity i worked at had perhaps 8 paid employees on the policy and campaigns team.

For example a media report comes out saying antidepressant use rates in women has risen and i read the study it is based on before the charity makes a comment. The paper shows the rise in use of antidepressants in general is the same rate as for women. The charity might not make this comment to the media if it is not in their interests. They might suggest that other treatment options than drugs should be available if this is a campaign/influence objective for example. Or demand investment in preventative well being projects or whatever is part of the organisation's objectives.

i make it sound Machiavellian but they're trying to do the right thing this way. To achieve their objectives they also have to protect their brand reputation and that's not done by espousing radical beliefs that are contrary to entrenched beliefs held by the masses.

This is quite different to how social movements such as led by Martin Luther King operated. But achieving influence is critical. One of Gandhi's greatest assets was how he could influence the British media thus changed the minds of the people and politicians of a country who were a tyranny over and owned India.

This site could portray itself as a liberation movement and this is not a lie or falsehood. This site is where suicidal individuals go to find those on the side of suicidal individuals and those who truly have empathy for what suicidal individuals feel and face, where what "save" means to a suicidal individual is respected instead of ignored. This site can also say it is against the brutal consequences of failed suicide attempts. Without the option of assisted suicide this is where suicidal individuals get genuine empathy and care.

 

[262653]

Do you have a link to that specific story? I think I may have posted in a thread about that one but I never read the full story about it.

My own "family" would do the very same and I've said as much in my suicide note to them. They'll likely paint some pretty picture of themselves and pretend like they are innocent to try to absolve themselves of responsibility for their actions.

Wait, no. That was an unintentional misinformation. I've mingled:
1) the recent twitter story by sharonaluft
2) someone forum user's claim that the son of some grieving parents looked up about narcissism and abuse, implying that the son was struggling with narcissistic parents and their abuse (aka a rumor)
3) my own conjectures based on the behavior of combative grieving parents from fix26 squad

So I probably shouldn't have said that. I'll put the text through the strike (mark as a mistake).
What happened: there was a tweet by sharonaluft, supposedly she is a parent of a young person (24 year or so), she claimed that this site encouraged and instructed that person to die. Said that wants to silence this place, that she is a victim, and asked for help. I think it got a few hundred of comments mostly saying that things she described shouldn't happen, etc. etc.. I've dropped a few comments but the tweet seems to be removed, or maybe I was blocked. I have no idea how it works.

There is more info in the recent post in News & Announcements section. https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/a-press-release-and-commenting-on-recent-events.59917/ This one, I think.

Again, I've jumped to conclusions earlier, so I apologize for that.

If I'd think that my family would use my death to promote a cause I wouldn't stand for, and even would oppose it, then I'd leave a bunch of comments regarding them and their inclination to twist and deform facts, maybe even would make a video.

 

[WornOutLife]

The media portrays what's convenient and will certainly sell... I wish it was more realistic..

I SO agree with you!
The media, and "the system" will never portray CTB as the way it should be.

Just look at SS! People who don't know much about it, think this is a place to motivate each other to CTB asap while the truth is, that this website can help you lots!! It has helped me! I shouldn't be alive!

 

[Birdie]

I SO agree with you!
The media, and "the system" will never portray CTB as the way it should be.

Just look at SS! People who don't know much about it, think this is a place to motivate each other to CTB asap while the truth is, that this website can help you lots!! It has helped me! I shouldn't be alive!

Exactly. The freedom we all have here is very healthy, and many people actually choose not to CTB after spending some time here! Some users do CTB, but I believe they still would regardless of being a SS member or not. At least, they had a safe place and good people to talk to before leaving this world and that's awesome.

 

[WornOutLife]

Exactly. The freedom we all have here is very healthy, and many people actually choose not to CTB after spending some time here! Some users do CTB, but I believe they still would regardless of being a SS member or not. At least, they had a safe place and good people to talk to before leaving this world and that's awesome.

You're goddamn right!

 

[DivineMedicus]

Another possible interpretation: if some pretty, athletic, smart, and popular young person has preferred to end life over continuing it, and what does it says about your (average viewer's) life?

Suicidal ideations tend to arise from a combination of internal (e.g. self-image, ambitions, needs) and external factors (e.g. accomplishments, social status). Some people will have achieved a great many deal of accomplishments in life, yet there may be incongruence between their self-image/expectations and their achievements. Most "average" people can still be reasonably content with their lives despite not having many gifts, because customarily, they have congruent internalized principles/views regarding their lives.

 

[Sprite_Geist]

The mass media will report on whatever stories will gain the most popularity which, in turn, will generate the highest profit. An effective tactic to draw attention to a story is to have it include somebody who is young and attractive, and by "attractive" this means by the standards of society.
This is done because that is what many people want to see. The problem with this though is that it can lead to a warped view of the story - such as who suicide actually affects, and it can also reinforce biases (both positive and negative) against certain "types" of suicidal individuals.

It is similar to beauty magazines who feature very athletic and pretty supermodels on the front cover, it gets you interested but it also gives you unattainable and harmful body-image expectations.

This is just a theory however.