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http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2005/11/26/1324582-sun.html

Time to talk about suicide
Sat, November 26, 2005
By PAUL BERTON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2005/11/26/1324582-sun.html



Last week, when we promoted our series on suicide before it was
published, we received this message via e-mail: "I hope the decision to
undertake this subject was not made lightly. I shudder to think that
anyone who has been contemplating such an act might just need a nudge
(i.e. these articles) to actually follow through."

No -- as the editor's note that accompanied the articles indicated --
we did not make the decision lightly.

In fact, we were encouraged by experts to take the project on. It is
high time, say a growing number of advocates, that the topic is brought
out into the open.

And no, experts confirm, our series did not likely "nudge" anyone
contemplating suicide. As our series pointed out, that is one of the
many myths about suicide.

The reality, experts say, is that encouraging someone to speak about
suicidal feelings can reduce the risk of an attempt.

Myths like that persist because people are reluctant to talk about it
-- and learn from the discussion.

Suicide has long been a taboo subject in newspapers. We simply don't
write about them in most instances.

We use euphemisms such as "died suddenly" in obituaries to protect the
loved ones and, presumably, the memory of those who have taken their
lives.

There are exceptions, of course. We do write about suicide if the
victim is prominent, or commits the act in a prominent way, or if the
suicide is somehow relevant to the public good.

Mostly, though, we simply ignore it.

Yet, if someone dies in a car accident or of cancer or is murdered, we
say this, and imply, through quoting others, that it's high time more
attention be paid to the problem so lives can be saved.

The London Free Press is always sensitive to the wishes of its readers
-- and those of the people we write about.

If someone asks us not to mention the cause of death, we consider that
request and do everything we can to honour it, but we must consider
others, too.

If they were the eighth person to die from a virus or disease, however,
it might be part of an epidemic -- and it would be our duty to report
it.

Is it much different with suicide? Suicide is the cause of 4,000 deaths
a year in Canada and yet people are reluctant to talk about it.

If that many people were dying from something else, experts say, there
would be an outcry.

Series such as the one this week by Free Press reporter Randy Richmond
can't pretend to come up with all the answers, but it can perhaps be a
good start to finding at least some.