title: Case study of posts before and after a suicide on a Swedish internet forum.
abstract: Websites and discussion forums have become an important and sometimes controversial source of information on suicide. Using a case report, our aim was to examine the responses, attitudes and beliefs that were communicated on a forum before, during and after a suicide act. We undertook two related analyses: a qualitative investigation of the messages that were posted before the suicide and a combined qualitative-quantitative analysis of the messages posted during and after the suicide. Nearly half the posted messages before the suicide encouraged the victim to complete the suicidal act, and a surprising number of posts after the suicide expressed excitement, although around half of the posts considered the suicide to be tragic. It is of great importance to increase awareness of suicide signals and understanding about how to respond to individuals who communicate suicide intentions on different forums on the internet.
authors.affiliation: Michael Westerlund, PhD, National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Gergö Hadlaczky, PhD, and Danuta Wasserman, MD, PhD, National Centre for Suicide Reserach and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Instituetet, Stockholm, Sweden michael.westerlund@ims.su.se.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Westerlund
authors.affiliation: Michael Westerlund, PhD, National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Gergö Hadlaczky, PhD, and Danuta Wasserman, MD, PhD, National Centre for Suicide Reserach and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Instituetet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gergö
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hadlaczky
authors.affiliation: Michael Westerlund, PhD, National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Gergö Hadlaczky, PhD, and Danuta Wasserman, MD, PhD, National Centre for Suicide Reserach and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Instituetet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Danuta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wasserman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D012944:Social Support; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult