There are much higher than average rates of suicide among Canadian Aboriginals. It is sad to hear the statistics behind the research but in my experience it has been an unfortunate reality. I wanted to share an excerpt from The Aboriginal Healing Foundation on how Media can possibly influence suicide rates. As a product of the 90’s I often reflect back to when Kurt Cobain committed suicide and how it influenced so many youth at that time. I think it is important for the media to broadcast less on suicide itself and more on prevention and intervention.

Mass Media Mass media— in the form of television, Internet, magazines, and music— play an important role in the lives of most contemporary young people. Mass media may influence the rate and pattern of suicide in the general population (Pirkis and Blood, 2001; Stack, 2003; 2005). The media representation of suicides may contribute to suicide clusters. Suicide commands public and government attention and is often perceived as a powerful issue to use in political debates. This focus, however, can inadvertently legitimize suicide as a form of political protest and thus increase its prevalence. Research has shown that reports on youth suicide in newspapers or entertainment media have been associated with increased levels of suicidal behaviour among exposed persons (Phillips and Cartensen, 1986; Phillips, Lesyna, and Paight, 1992; Pirkis and Blood, 2001). The intensity of this effect may depend on how strongly vulnerable individuals identify with the suicides portrayed.

There are prevailing attitudes in some segments of society that romanticize suicide as an expression of alienation, social protest, or heartbreak. Mass media sometimes make suicide the topic of sensationalized accounts. For some, Aboriginal suicide has come to represent resistance to the effects of cultural suppression and marginalization, which may inadvertently give it heroic meaning for some youth. Suicide prevention requires strengthening individual and community attitudes that reject suicide as a viable option. Effective problem-solving, community involvement, political activism, and other forms of active engagement in protest and change, all present alternatives to self-destructive despair and powerlessness. In the hands of Aboriginal youth themselves, the media can become tools of empowerment and social change. Copyright © 2007. Aboriginal Healing Foundation. All rights reserved.

Source:

Kirmayer, Laurence J.; Brass, Gregory M.; Holton, Tara. Suicide Among Aboriginal People in Canada.  Ottawa, ON, Canada: Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2007. p 92-93. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/Doc?id=10213044&ppg=112