Internet forums raise suicide risk to teens: Study

Internet forums can increase the risk of vulnerable teens committing suicide, a study has found.

While the internet might not trigger suicidal tendencies, it can tip someone already at risk over the edge, said researchers from Oxford University who examined global evidence.

In one of the 14 studies, 59% of young people interviewed said they had researched suicide online. According to another finding, the vast majority of teens carrying out especially violent acts of self-harm used the internet to investigate methods of inflicting injury on themselves.

Of one group of 34 who self-harmed by cutting, 73% said they had conducted research online. The review found that internet forums could have a beneficial effect, by providing support to socially isolated people.

However, other evidence indicated some young people exposed to violent imagery online end up acting it out. Internet use was also linked to more violent injuries, and young people at risk of self-harm or suicide were often online for long periods of time.

There was a “strong link” between young people using internet forums and an increased risk of suicide.

Paul Montgomery, from Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence Based Intervention, said: “We are not saying that all young people who go on the internet increase their risk of suicide or self-harm.

“We are talking about vulnerable young people who are going online specifically to find out more about harming themselves or because they are considering suicide already.

The research, published in the online journal Public Library of Science One, showed that, even though internet forums may provide emotional support to young people, this did not appear to reduce levels of self-harm. Cyber-bullying via instant messaging, MySpace, and chat rooms also increased the chances of vulnerable young people harming themselves.

Co-author Kate Daine, also from the Centre for Evidence Based Intervention, said: “There are no known online interventions to date that specifically target young people at risk of self-harm or suicide and yet we find that adolescents who self-harm are very frequent users of the internet.

“While social media might be useful for supporting vulnerable adolescents, we also find that the internet is doing more harm than good in some cases. We need to know more about how we can use social media as a channel to help young people in distress.”

Joe Ferns, the executive director of policy at the suicide charity Samaritans, said: “We should acknowledge that many people are using suicide forums and chat rooms to anonymously discuss their feelings of distress and despair, including suicidal thoughts, which may have a positive impact on the individual.

“However, deliberately encouraging or assisting suicide online is already a criminal offence and, where possible, the authorities should use their existing powers to prosecute malicious individuals who do this.”