Existential viewpoint
A rare book about peaceful suicide methods.
Advocacy of suicide, also known as pro-suicide, has occurred in many cultures and subcultures.
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Advocacy of suicide, also known as pro-suicide, has occurred in many cultures and subcultures.
Confucianism holds that one should give up one's life, if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values of ren (altruism) and yi (righteousness). [1]
Seppuku was a Japanese practice of ritual suicide by disembowelment. The Japanese military during World War II encouraged and glorified kamikaze attacks, and Japanese society as a whole has been described as "suicide-tolerant" (see Suicide in Japan).
Advocacy of suicide has also taken place over the Internet. A study by the British Medical Journal found that Web searches for information on suicide are likely to return sites that encourage, and even facilitate, suicide attempts. [2] While pro-suicide resources were less frequent than neutral or anti-suicide sites, they were nonetheless easily accessible. [3] There is some concern that such sites may push the suicidal person over the edge. [4] Some people form suicide pacts with people they meet online. [5] Becker writes, "Suicidal adolescent visitors risk losing their doubts and fears about committing suicide. Risk factors include peer pressure to commit suicide and appointments for joint suicides. Furthermore, some chat rooms celebrate chatters who committed suicide." [6]
William Francis Melchert-Dinkel, 47 years old in May 2010, from Faribault, Minnesota, a licensed practical nurse from 1991 until February 2009, stands accused of encouraging people to die by suicide while he watched voyeuristically on a webcam. [7] [8] [9] [10] He allegedly told those contemplating suicide what methods worked best, that it was okay to die by suicide, that they would be better in heaven, and/or entered into suicide pacts with them. [7] [11] Dinkel was charged with two counts of assisting suicide, for allegedly encouraging the suicides of a person in Britain in 2005 and another person in Canada in 2008. [7] [12]
Suzy's Law would, in the US, ban sites that provide information on suicide methods or otherwise assist suicide. [13] There have been some legal bans on pro-suicide web sites, most notably in Australia, but arguably such bans merely increase awareness of such sites and encourage site owners to move their sites to different jurisdictions. [14]
A copycat suicide is defined as an emulation of another suicide that the person attempting suicide knows about either from local knowledge or due to accounts or depictions of the original suicide on television and in other media. The publicized suicide serves as a trigger, in the absence of protective factors, for the next suicide by a susceptible or suggestible person. This is referred to as suicide contagion.
A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in video telephony, live streaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral devices, and are commonly connected to a device using USB or wireless protocols.
Brandon Carl Vedas, also known by his nickname ripper on IRC, was an American computer enthusiast, recreational drug user and member of the Shroomery.org community who died of a multiple drug overdose while discussing what he was doing via chat and webcam. His death led to debate about the responsibilities and roles of online communities in life-threatening situations.
alt.suicide.holiday is a Usenet newsgroup. Its original purpose was to discuss the relationship between suicide rates and holiday seasons. However, it later evolved into a broad discussion forum where suicidal people can openly share their struggles or research suicide methods. Some participants are not suicidal, but post to provide psychological support or advice on how to kill oneself to suicidal or depressed posters. The newsgroup was unmoderated and subject to a high level of trolling and a harsh and sometimes hostile atmosphere. According to its FAQ, its purpose is neither to encourage nor discourage suicide.
The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without the will to continue living, should be allowed to end their own life, use assisted suicide, or to decline life-prolonging treatment. The question of who, if anyone, may be empowered to make this decision is often the subject of debate.
A suicide method is any means by which a person may choose to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a non-fatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, and brain damage.
A murder–suicide is an act where an individual intentionally kills one or more people before or while killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms:
A suicide pact is an agreed plan between two or more individuals to die by suicide. The plan may be to die together, or separately and closely timed.
Paltalk is a proprietary video group chat service that enables users to communicate by video, Internet chat, or voice. It offers chat rooms and the ability for users to create their own public virtual chat room. Paltalk Desktop is available on macOS and Windows, and Paltalk Video Chat App is available for Android and iOS. While basic services are free of charge and basic software is free to download, fee-based memberships and paid upgrades to more capable versions are offered by AVM Software, the creators of Paltalk.
Stickam was a live-streaming video website that launched in 2005. Stickam featured user-submitted pictures, audio, video, and most prominently, live streaming video chat. The site quickly expanded to include live shows and produced content from MTV, G4 TV, CBS Radio, NATPE, CES, and many others, as well as live performances and shows with numerous musicians and celebrities.
Internet safety, also known as online safety, cyber safety and electronic safety (e-safety), refers to the policies, practices and processes that reduce the harms to people that are enabled by the (mis)use of information technology.
A webcam model is a video performer who streams on the Internet with a live webcam broadcast. A webcam model often performs erotic acts online, such as stripping, masturbation, or sex acts in exchange for money, goods, or attention. They may also sell videos of their performances. Once viewed as a small niche in the world of adult entertainment, camming became "the engine of the porn industry," according to Alec Helmy, the publisher of XBIZ, a sex-trade industry journal.
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse are risk factors. Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, relationship problems, or harassment and bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance abuse; careful media reporting about suicide; improving economic conditions; and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). Although crisis hotlines are common resources, their effectiveness has not been well studied.
A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is a successful or desirable outcome.
William Francis Melchert-Dinkel is an American former licensed practical nurse who was convicted in 2011 of encouraging people to commit suicide. He told those contemplating suicide what methods worked best, that it was an acceptable choice to take their own life, that they would be better off in heaven, and/or falsely entered into suicide pacts with them. He is a married father of two. His wife, Joyce Melchert-Dinkel, stood by him accepting his suicide sexual fetish through court.
Researchers study Social media and suicide to find if a correlation exists between the two. Some research has shown that there may be a correlation.
Animal suicide is when an animal intentionally ends its own life through its actions. It implies a wide range of higher cognitive capacities that experts have been wary to ascribe to nonhuman animals such as a concept of self, death, and future intention. There is currently not enough empirical data on the subject for there to be a consensus among experts. For these reasons, the occurrence of animal suicide is controversial among academics.
Suicide and the Internet have increasingly important relationships as Internet use becomes more ubiquitous.
Bullying suicide are considered together when the cause of suicide is attributable to the victim having been bullied, either in person or via social media. Writers Neil Marr and Tim Field wrote about it in their 2001 book Bullycide: Death at Playtime.
Historically, suicide terminology has been rife with issues of nomenclature, connotation, and outcomes, and terminology describing suicide has often been defined differently depending on the purpose of the definition. A lack of agreed-upon nomenclature and operational definitions has complicated understanding. In 2007, attempts were made to reach some consensus. There is also opposition to the phrase "to commit suicide" as implying negative moral judgment and association with criminal or sinful activity.