Suicide as news doesn’t mean that we’re better informed

Twenty years ago, if someone jumped off a bridge, it wasn’t news. Decades of research have shown that sensationalized stories of suicide can lead to an increase in deaths and self-harm, so most news outlets avoided the subject. Then came social media.

Now, the last moments of people’s lives can go viral. Once the story escapes organically, news media is quick to follow. The result is more talk about suicide than ever, in newspapers and on the silver screen, in the halls of political power and university campuses. But the conversations tend to fit one formula, making depression seem incurable and suicide the inevitable end.

The way the media often presents suicide is sensationalized, out of context and devoid of resources. This isn’t just dangerous — leading to more deaths through a phenomenon called contagion — it’s also wrong. Suicide is not the only way out. For those struggling with their mental health, death by suicide is not even the norm. In fact, it’s entirely preventable.

That’s the missing element from the conversation: far from the only end to depression, the vast majority of people who think about taking their own life don’t do it.

“Suicidal thoughts happen with some frequency [in everyone],” explains Dr. Mark Sinyor, a psychiatrist at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. Estimates vary, but Sinyor says that as many as one in three people will have thoughts about taking their own life. Five per cent of people will attempt suicide and one per cent will die from it.

Those deaths amount to about 4,000 tragedies every year in Canada. That number is too high. Still, it does add up to the majority getting help. Most people with suicidal thoughts “find a way to be resilient,” says Sinyor. They talk to a loved one or a professional. They discover a reason to keep living. “And in that, there’s hope.” That’s the story we need to hear. A focus on those who slip through the cracks seems to normalize suicide as the end to very common condition. We’re missing a powerful opportunity to tell stories of resiliency and hope. Positive stories offer a more complete picture of depressionthey can also save lives.

Just as sensationalized stories of suicide can be contagious, uplifting examples of people overcoming struggles with mental health serve as an inoculation of hope and a reminder that suicide is not the answer. A 2005 Austrian study found that articles about people who’d come back from depression and other illnesses empowered others to seek help. Those stories led to a drop in the country’s suicide deaths.

We can no longer avoid the subject in the age of smartphones and a burgeoning mental health crisis. We do need to talk openly about suicide, just not the way we’ve been doing it.

The simple offering of a more complete picture — that many people have dark thoughts and the majority get the help they need-can save lives. This is the contagion we need to spread.

If you or someone you know are struggling with thoughts of self harm, suicide or depression, you are not alone. Visit the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (suicideprevention.ca) for resources. Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day.