South Wales: linked to suicide craze

Recently, South Wales has been linked to a suicide craze sweeping a social networking site, Bebo. British detectives believed many of the suicide victims had their own web pages on Bebo and could have been driven to kill themselves as a way of gaining prestige among their friends. There have been a further 13 suspected suicides in the Bridgend county in the past 12 months. 

On February 22, the death toll in a small town hit by a spate of suicides rose to 16 yesterday when two young cousins were found hanged. They died hours apart, leaving the South Wales community of Bridgend reeling from the continuing string of tragedies.

Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, was still alive when he was discovered in an attic room at the family home on Wednesday but died yesterday morning when his life-support machine was turned off.

His cousin Kelly Stephenson, 20, had been told of Nathaniel's suicide bid while she was on holiday in Folkestone, Kent, and warned there was little hope he would survive.

Kelly, who knew two of the young men who died last year - was found dead shortly after midnight yesterday by a relative.

South Wales police and Bridgend coroner Philip Walters said they did not believe the apparent suicides were linked and played down any connection with internet sites.

A task force involving police, social services, health and education officials has been set up to investigate the series of tragedies and discussions have taken place at government level over the spate of young deaths - all by hanging - which started in January 2007.

Suicide in the U.S.: Statistics and Prevention

Studies showed that a type of psychotherapy called cognitive therapy reduced the rate of repeated suicide attempts by 50 percent during a year of follow-up. A previous suicide attempt is among the strongest predictors of subsequent suicide, and cognitive therapy helps suicide attempters consider alternative actions when thoughts of self-harm arise.

Specific kinds of psychotherapy may be helpful for specific groups of people. For example, a recent study showed that a treatment called dialectical behavior therapy reduced suicide attempts by half, compared with other kinds of therapy, in people with borderline personality disorder (a serious disorder of emotion regulation).

The medication clozapine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for suicide prevention in people with schizophrenia. Other promising medications and psychosocial treatments for suicidal people are being tested.

Since research shows that older adults and women who die by suicide are likely to have seen a primary care provider in the year before death, improving primary-care providers' ability to recognize and treat risk factors may help prevent suicide among these groups. Improving outreach to men at risk is a major challenge in need of investigation.

What should I do if I think someone is suicidal?

If you think someone is suicidal, do not leave him or her alone. Try to get the person to seek immediate help from his or her doctor or the nearest hospital emergency room, or call 911. Eliminate access to firearms or other potential tools for suicide, including unsupervised access to medications.

Did Myspace Kill Megan Meier?

Many have heard and read about the suicide of a young girl, Megan Meier, who killed herself because she was taunted by a mother of an ex-friend who lived on the same block as the Meier family.

Here is the story from the New York Times by Christopher Maag - November 28, 2007

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo., Nov. 21 — Megan Meier died believing that somewhere in this world lived a boy named Josh Evans who hated her. He was 16, owned a pet snake, and she thought he was the cutest boyfriend she ever had.

Josh contacted Megan through her page on MySpace.com, the social networking Web site, said Megan’s mother, Tina Meier. They flirted for weeks, but only online — Josh said his family had no phone. On Oct. 15, 2006, Josh suddenly turned mean. He called Megan names, and later they traded insults for an hour.

The next day, in his final message, said Megan’s father, Ron Meier, Josh wrote, “The world would be a better place without you.”

Sobbing, Megan ran into her bedroom closet. Her mother found her there, hanging from a belt. She was 13.

Six weeks after Megan’s death, her parents learned that Josh Evans never existed. He was an online character created by Lori Drew, then 47, who lived four houses down the street in this rapidly growing community 35 miles northwest of St. Louis.

That an adult would plot such a cruel hoax against a 13-year-old girl has drawn outraged phone calls, e-mail messages and blog posts from around the world. Many people expressed anger because St. Charles County officials did not charge Ms. Drew with a crime.

But a St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, Lt. Craig McGuire, said that what Ms. Drew did “might’ve been rude, it might’ve been immature, but it wasn’t illegal.”

In response to the events, the local Board of Aldermen on Wednesday unanimously passed a measure making Internet harassment a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail.

“Give me a break; that’s nothing,” Mayor Pam Fogarty said of the penalties. “But it’s the most we could do. People are saying to me, ‘Let’s go burn down their house.’”

St. Charles County’s prosecuting attorney, Jack Banas, said he was reviewing the case to determine whether anyone could be charged with a crime. State Representative Doug Funderburk, whose district includes Dardenne Prairie, said he was looking into the feasibility of introducing legislation to tighten restrictions against online harassment and fraud.

In seventh grade, Megan Meier had tried desperately to join the popular crowd at Fort Zumwalt West Middle School, only to be teased about her weight, her mother said. At the beginning of eighth grade last year, she transferred to Immaculate Conception, a nearby Catholic school. Within three months, Ms. Meier said, her daughter had a new group of friends, lost 20 pounds and joined the volleyball team.

At one time, Lori Drew’s daughter and Megan had been “joined at the hip,” said Megan’s great-aunt Vicki Dunn. But the two drifted apart, and when Megan changed schools she told the other girl that she no longer wanted to be friends, Ms. Meier said.

In a report filed with the Sheriff’s Department, Lori Drew said she created the MySpace profile of “Josh Evans” to win Megan’s trust and learn how Megan felt about her daughter. Reached at home, Lori’s husband, Curt Drew, said only that the family had no comment.

Because Ms. Drew had taken Megan on family vacations, she knew the girl had been prescribed antidepression medication, Ms. Meier said. She also knew that Megan had a MySpace page.
Ms. Drew had told a girl across the street about the hoax, said the girl’s mother, who requested anonymity to protect her daughter, a minor.

“Lori laughed about it,” the mother said, adding that Ms. Drew and Ms. Drew’s daughter “said they were going to mess with Megan.”

After a month of innocent flirtation between Megan and Josh, Ms. Meier said, Megan suddenly received a message from him saying, “I don’t like the way you treat your friends, and I don’t know if I want to be friends with you.”

They argued online. The next day other youngsters who had linked to Josh’s MySpace profile joined the increasingly bitter exchange and began sending profanity-laden messages to Megan, who retreated to her bedroom. No more than 15 minutes had passed, Ms. Meier recalled, when she suddenly felt something was terribly wrong. She rushed to the bedroom and found her daughter’s body hanging in the closet.

As paramedics worked to revive Megan, the neighbor who insisted on anonymity said, Lori Drew called the neighbor’s daughter and told her to “keep her mouth shut” about the MySpace page.
Six weeks later, at a meeting with the Meiers, mediated by grief counselors, the neighbor told them that “Josh” was a hoax. The Drews were not present.

“I just sat there in shock,” Mr. Meier said.

Shortly before Megan’s death, the Meiers had agreed to store a foosball table the Drews had bought as a Christmas surprise for their children. When the Meiers learned about the MySpace hoax, they attacked the table with a sledgehammer and an ax, Ms. Meier said, and threw the pieces onto the Drews’ driveway.

“I felt like such a fool,” Mr. Meier said. “I’m supposed to protect my family, and here I allowed these people to inject themselves into our lives.”

The police learned about the hoax when Ms. Drew filed a complaint about the damage to the foosball table. In the report, she stated that she felt the hoax “contributed to Megan’s suicide, but she did not feel ‘as guilty’ because at the funeral she found out Megan had tried to commit suicide before.”

Megan had mentioned suicide several times, her mother said, but had never attempted it, and no one who knew her, including her doctors, felt she was suicidal.

On the advice of F.B.I. agents who did not want the Drews to learn of their investigation of the hoax, Ms. Meier said, her family said nothing publicly about the case for a year. Today, the Meier and the Drew families continue to live four houses from one another on a winding suburban street.

“There are no words to explain my rage,” Ms. Meier said. “These people were supposed to be our friends.”









-- Let's hope this little girl is resting in peace...



For more video information on this story, please visit:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wfsxQIK-F80&feature=related

Police Identify Remains Found In Woods

Question remains on whether or not the death of Bloomsburg University student, Garrett Jay, was a murder or suicide. Jay didn't leave a suicide note or any idea that he suffered from depression -- friends of Jay reported that the young man called, informing them that he was heading to meet them at a local bar, but never did. After that call, Jay wasn't heard from again. A year or so passed before the remains of his body was found in a nearby wooded area. The Columbia County coroner ruled the cause of death as asphyxiation by hanging -- Jay apparently committed suicide according to the coroner.

According to WNEP Newswatch 16, "Two teenage boys discovered the remains around 1 p.m. in May, 2007, just off East Fourth Street and Oak Lane. The lead investigator said that clothing and personal items found near the skeleton were consistent with items that Garrett Jay would have had at the time he went missing."

A Boy the Bullies Love to Beat Up, Repeatedly

"Bullying is a problem in every school in the world, which may seem like a simplistic answer, but it's true," said Andrew Mellor, the manager of the Anti-Bullying Network at the University of Edinburgh, an association funded by the Scottish government to provide schools and students with information and support. Bullying is not only physical; it can be psychological as well. Physical bullying is not as common as the more subtle forms, such as social exclusion, name-calling, and gossip.

In this story posted in the New York Times, a young boy, Billy Wolfe, was constantly bullied and harassed by his peers but school officials did little to nothing to punish his bullies.

"I pray to God every day they don't kill him," said his mother, Ms. Wolfe. "Because of all the things that have happened, I honestly don't know if he's going to be O.K."

In this article of the New York Times, reporter, Dan Barry said, "Not long after, a boy on the school bus pummeled Billy, but somehow Billy was the one suspended, despite his pleas that the bus’s security camera would prove his innocence. Days later, Ms. Wolfe recalls, the principal summoned her, presented a box of tissues, and played the bus video that clearly showed Billy was telling the truth."

You can read for yourself about this young man who constantly fought for his life and lived through the hardest part of a teens life...

http://http//www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/us/24land.html?_r=1&ex=1364184000&en=918c3147f0cd24fa&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Depression Hurts

According to hopeline.com, “more than 90% of people who commit suicide have depression or another diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder.” One who feels depressed or has suicidal thoughts should urgently see a mental health service or doctor.

Sadly, one out of 12 teenagers suffers with depression before the age of 18. Even worse, once girls reach puberty, they are two times as likely as boys to become depressed. According to Jeff Bostic, director of school psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Michael Miller, editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, “approximately half of the teenagers with untreated depression may attempt suicide, the third leading cause of death in this age group.” Neuroscientists say the adolescent brain is made for emotional instability and confusion, and retreat from family which help teenagers reach out to their peers instead of his/her parents. However, those same trends make is hard to tell when merely growing up turns into depression.

Adolescents may suffer from depression due to other reasons than an adult. A painful breakup, rejection by peers, or a bad grade can cause unhappiness for days, maybe even weeks. Depression can attack an individual with no apparent reason and may take over ones daily life for months at a time; possibly even years. Bostic and Miller said, “Depressed kids who may be biologically more vulnerable than others to environmental stress, feel almost constantly miserable and enjoy very little. But depression isn’t always expressed as sadness.” Depression isn’t always expressed in sadness; teens may be irritable, have headaches and suffer with stomach pains instead of describing the bad feelings as a mood. Depression affects the energy, sleep patterns, and appetite of its victims. School-aged children who suffer with depression often perform very poorly in school and may withdraw from family and friends – suicidal thoughts shouldn’t be something children think about, let alone at such a young age.

My Reasons for Living