Call to ban websites promoting suicide

Internet sites that support or encourage suicide should be banned or at least have stringent controls placed on them, a report recommended today.

Academics researching the growing social problem also called for more professional support services to help save the lives of those contemplating suicide.

Their study for the University of Ulster also urged the establishment of a national database on suicide incidents to discover the reasons why people take their own lives – and also to monitor the efficacy of measures to stop them.

A study of suicides in Derry found that more than 80% of those who died at their own hand were male.

Some 60 suicides between January 2000 and December 2005 were examined.

The peak time for suicide in the city was July. Further studies will be carried out to determine whether that is repeated across the North.

The most frequent method of suicide was hanging (55%), followed by drowning (25%) and overdose (13.3%). Three times as many males overdosed as females.

Only three of the 60 recorded suicides were of people over 60.

The study was conducted by the forensic medical examiner for the area, Amanda Burns, course director for forensic and legal medicine at the UU, Tara Moore, and biostatistician Professor Edward Goodall.

They said the increased incidence of suicides by young men – recorded also in the South, Spain, Portugal and Greece – may be partially due to the changed social role of young men, compounded by other stress factors such as broken relationships, unemployment and an increased tendency to substance abuse.

Almost half the 60 recorded suicides had been committed by someone who was unemployed, they said.

Their report added: “Other contributory factors suggested include the inadequacy of professional support services for those contemplating suicide and the promotion and use of self-harm sites on the internet.”

In more than 40% of the cases examined, the victim had been previously diagnosed with depression and there was a possible history of mental health problems in almost 12%. A further 5% were psychiatric patients at the time of their death.

Dr Moore said: “It is vital that policymakers take more steps to throw light on the causes of this major problem.”