The Samaritans media guidelines for reporting suicide

[Marktheghost]

https://www.samaritans.org/about-samaritans/media-guidelines/best-practice-suicide-reporting-tips/

Some excerpts:

"Samaritans recommends:
Avoid giving too much detail. Care should be taken when giving any detail of a suicide method. While saying someone hanged themselves or took an overdose is acceptable, detail about the type of ligature or type and quantity of tablets used is not."

Because getting it wrong and just increasing your suffering is much better than getting it right and permanently ending your suffering.

"Take extra care when reporting the facts of cases where an unusual or previously unknown method has been used. Incidences of people using unusual or new methods of suicide have been known to increase rapidly after being reported widely."

Well perhaps that's because the known ways of committing suicide are unsafe and/or unreliable, so people want a way that is safer or quicker or more reliable!

"Reporting may also drive people to the internet to search for more information about these methods. "

And that's a bad thing??!!! Researching your method before trying it is the way to keep yourself safe!

"Never say a method is quick, easy, painless or certain to result in death. "

At least they've got something right. I don't think there is an easy, painless or 100% reliable suicide method. There are quick ones though.

"If possible, include references to suicide being preventable, and to sources of support such as Samaritans. "

Because of course people could never have problems that just don't have a solution and be in a situation where suicide is the best way of ending their suffering. There's always going to be a way of ending suffering other than dying. And when do the Samaritans ever give help, advice or information when you contact them?

Are these people totally insensitive to the feelings of suicidal people?!

 

[LonelySoul]

This applies media-wide though, although some newspapers such as The Sun don't really care about what type of references or wording they use, the more sensationalist, the better their readers get hooked into the story.

I remember when the 3 bodies were found at the foot of Beachy Head cliffs, 2017 I think it was, there were vast differences in the way this story was reported.

If people are hell-bent on committing suicide, you can bet they would have researched methods long before actually doing it. Reading a newspaper article or literature from the Samaritans, would not push them in the direction of suicide. They will have already made that decision themselves.

 

[Ready2020]

I personally found the samaritans pointless.... Quote "i am not here to stop you.... Just listen".....

 

[Quarky00]

"Never say a method is quick, easy, painless or certain to result in death. "

I believe this in particular to be evil and malicious .

I understand hiding details and somehow not "glorifying" or "encouraging" , as if people kill themselves over one article (are you really that thick?) , but misrepresentation (by omission) of the death of people already suffering as painful is vile , dishonest , and corrupt . There's no 'encouragement' in saying a poor man passed away peacefully .

In fact that's the only solace society sees in these situation .

Even people who are not ardent supporters of pro-life stances . "At least they found peace" is common to say about the deceased (natural or not) . I think even pro-lifers would at least find comfort that a person , even if they're "heading to hell" and it's "immorally wrong" , did not suffer more . By depriving society of that , and as a policy ; by wishing it to be painful , Samaritans stepped over the line and became immoral .

It's not a pro-life position anymore but one that blinds people , hides the truth , and spawns lies . That's malice . That's the difference between Sanctioned Suicide and Samaritans . We have nothing to hide and we don't lie . You do it for a living . Shame .

 

[Diceroller90]

Researching your method before trying it is the way to keep yourself safe!

Off topic, but I find this line hilarious because causing your own death is the opposite of safe, yet the sentence does still make sense if you define safe as "avoiding egregious harm".

Are these people totally insensitive to the feelings of suicidal people?!

More like we are incomprehensible. We can only understand things through our interpretations of reality. To most people, life is something valuable so the priority to is preserve it at all costs. We see things in more shades of grey. So from their POV they are doing everything right because this lowers the rates of suicide. It is just moronic because they are treating the symptom (suicide) rather than the causes (why so many people want to commit suicide).