Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper killed herself before the watershed last night. The build up to this prompted the inevitable moral panic frenzy. The media’s role in the representation of suicide is…
As details emerge of the latest appalling shooting incident in the United States, it seems the alleged perpetrator may have planned to die by suicide, after taking the lives of others - just as many have…
Despite two decades of investment in improving mental health services, the mental health of Australians has not improved. This may be because haven’t been spending money on the right approach and need…
A new study has suggested that it may be possible to develop blood tests for suicide by identifying biomarkers in the blood. Although it has its limitations, the study is an important step towards a more…
Research we have just published shows the deaths of 48 of the 129 women in New South Wales who died during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth were due to suicide and trauma. It suggests mothers…
The recent arrest by Canadian police of two young people who allegedly shared a photo of a young woman being sexually assaulted has once again highlighted the danger that social media can pose for teenagers…
As long ago as 1780, John Howard noted that prisons were housing more “idiots and lunatics” and emphasised the detrimental effects that this had on the prison regime for both sets of prisoners. But while…
Stephanie Bottrill, aged 53, became another suicide statistic and a grim reminder of the harmful impact of the UK welfare reforms last month, according to reports. In her suicide note, it was said she…
Australians are living longer. But not everyone wants to live as long as they can. People sometimes have good reasons for wanting to end their lives: they may be suffering from a terminal illness; they…
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s recent announcement that barriers are to be erected on the Story Bridge in an effort to reduce suicides is very welcome. Studies consistently show that barriers have…
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTI) people were recognised as being specific high-risk groups for suicide in a 2010 senate committee report. While every suicide may not be preventable…
On January 12, a young Tibetan man, Tsering Tashi, set himself on fire in a nomadic area in China’s Gansu province, while calling for the long life of the Dalai Lama and a free Tibet. Less than a week…
Barely a week passes without media coverage of some aspect of the real or perceived impacts of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) and drive-in drive-out (DIDO) work, especially in the mining sector. We hear about the…
My doctoral studies in visual arts entails working with people who are not necessarily visual artists, but see the value in artistically expressing their story to expand our understanding of suicide. Suicide…
The Holy Roman Empire, 1704: Agnes Catherina Schickin slits the throat of a seven-year-old boy. 1746: Johanna Martauschin smashes the skull of a small child. 1753: Sophia Charlotte Krügerin cuts the throat…
Young people exposed to multiple types of abuse are up to six times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who were not, a US study has found, suggesting the need for a more holistic approach…
They toiled and they fought through the shame of it - Through wilderness, flood, and drought… …The miseries suffered, unvoiced, unknown - And that’s how the land was won. Henry Lawson’s characterisations…
The issue of media reporting of suicide was once again thrust into the spotlight this week, with mental health researcher, clinician and former Australian of the year Pat McGorry renewing his calls for…
Today is R U OK? Day – an initiative kicked off in 2009 by marketing executive Gavin Larkin and television producer Janina Nearn after the death of business management consultant Barry Larkin who took…
We’ve long known that rates of suicide in Indigenous communities are higher than the wider Australian population. But we’re much less clear about why this is the case. Each life lost to suicide reminds…
Principal Research Fellow, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention, Griffith University