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However you chose to look a these mental illnesses. It is important that we stop oversharing online and under sharing in real life, start reaching out (Liberti). And even a negative voice is sometimes a compassionate voice that has lost its way ( Moukaddem).

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This article explains how social media companies, such as Facebook, are trying to prevent suicide by detecting potentially suicidal posts

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Image: vicky leta / mashable

For many people who've dedicated their lives to preventing suicide, social media posts can be a precious dataset that contains hints about what people say and do before they attempt suicide.

In the past few years, researchers have built algorithms to learn which words and emoji are associated with suicidal thoughts. They've even used social media posts to retrospectively predict the suicide deaths of certain Facebook users.

Now Facebook itself has rolled out new artificial intelligence that can proactively identify heightened suicide risk and alert a team of human reviewers who are trained to reach out to a user contemplating fatal self-harm.

The technology, announced Monday, represents an unparalleled opportunity to understand and predict suicide risk. Before the AI tool was even publicly announced, Facebook used it to help dispatch first responders in 100 "wellness checks" to ensure a user's safety. The tool's life-saving potential is huge, but the company won't share many details about how it works or whether it'll broadly share its findings with academics and researchers.

That is bound to leave some experts in the field confused and concerned.

Munmun De Choudhury, an assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, commends the social media company for focusing on suicide prevention, but she would like Facebook to be more transparent about its algorithms.

"This is not just another AI tool - it tackles a really sensitive issue," she said. "It's a matter of somebody's life and death."

"This is not just another AI tool - it tackles a really sensitive issue. It's a matter of somebody's life and death."

Facebook understands the stakes, which is why its VP of product management, Guy Rosen, emphasized in an interview how AI significantly hastens the process of identifying distressed users and getting them resources or help.

But he declined to talk in-depth about the algorithm's factors beyond a few general examples, like worried comments from friends and family, the time of day, and the text in a user's post. Rosen also said the company, which has partnerships with suicide-prevention organizations, wants to learn from researchers, but he wouldn't discuss how or if Facebook might publish or share insights from its use of AI.

"We want to be very open about this," he said.

While transparency might not be Facebook's strength, in a field like suicide prevention it could help other experts save more lives by revealing behavior or language patterns that emerge prior to suicidal thinking or a suicide attempt. With more than 2 billion users, Facebook arguably has the largest database of such content in the world.

De Choudhury says transparency is vital when it comes to AI because transparency instills trust, a sentiment that's in short supply as people worry about technology's potential to fundamentally disrupt their professional and personal lives. Without enough trust in the tool, says De Choudhury, at-risk users may decide against sharing emotionally vulnerable or suicidal posts.

When users receive a message from Facebook, it doesn't indicate that AI identified them as high risk. Instead, they're told that "someone thinks you might need extra support right now and asked us to help." That someone, though, is a human reviewer who followed up on the AI detection of risk.

It's also currently impossible to know how the AI determines that someone is at imminent risk, the algorithm's accuracy, or how it makes mistakes when looking for clues of suicidal thinking. Since users won't know they were flagged by AI, they have no way of telling Facebook that it wrongly identified them as suicidal.

De Choudhury's research involves analyzing social media to glean information about people's mental and emotional wellbeing, so she understands the challenges of both developing an effective algorithm and deciding which data to publish.

She acknowledges that Facebook must strike a delicate balance. Sharing certain aspects of its findings, for example, could lead users to oversimplify suicide risk by focusing on key words or other signals of distress. And it could potentially give people with bad intentions data points they could use to analyze social media posts, identify those with perceived mental health issues, and target them for harassment or discrimination.

"I think sharing how the algorithm works, even if they don't reveal every excruciating detail, would be really beneficial."

Facebook also faces a different set of expectations and pressures as a private company. It may consider its suicide prevention AI tool intellectual property developed for the public good. It might want to use features of that intellectual property to enhance its offerings to marketers and advertisers; after all, pinpointing a user's emotional state is something that could be highly valuable to Facebook's marketplace competitiveness. The company has previously expressed interest in developing that ability.

Whatever the case, De Choudhury argues that Facebook can still contribute to broader efforts to use social media to understand suicide without compromising people's safety and the company's bottom line.

"I think academically sharing how the algorithm works, even if they don't reveal every excruciating detail, would be really beneficial," she says, "...because right now it's really a black box."

Crisis Text Line, which partnered with Facebook to provide suicide prevention resources and support to users, does use AI to determine people's suicide risk - and shares its findings with researchers and the public.

"With the scale of data and number of people Facebook has in its system, it could be an incredibly valuable dataset for academics and researchers to understanding suicide risk," said Bob Filbin, ‎chief data scientist for ‎Crisis Text Line.

Filbin didn't know Facebook was developing AI to predict suicide risk until Monday, but he said that Crisis Text Line is a proud partner and eager to work with the company to prevent suicide.

Crisis Text Line trains counselors to deescalate texters from "hot to cool" and uses first responders as a last resort. Facebook's human reviewers confirm the AI's detection of risk by examining the user's posts. They provide resources and contact emergency services when necessary, but do not further engage the user.

Filbin expects Facebook's AI to pick up on different signals than what surfaces in Crisis Text Line's data. People who contact the line do so looking for help and therefore may be more explicit in how they communicate suicidal thoughts and feelings.

One simple example is how texters at higher risk of suicide say they "need" to speak to a counselor. That urgency - compared to "want" - is just one factor that the line's AI uses to make a judgment about risk. Another is the word "ibuprofen," which Crisis Text Line discovered is 16 times more likely to predict the person texting needs emergency services than the word suicide.

Filbin said that Crisis Text Line's algorithm can identify 80 percent of text conversations that end up requiring an emergency response within the first three messages.

That is the kind of insight that counselors, therapists, and doctors hope to one day possess. It's clear that Facebook, by virtue of its massive size and commitment to suicide prevention, is now leading the effort to somehow put that knowledge into the hands of people who can save lives.

Whether or not Facebook accepts that position - and the transparency it requires - is a question the company would rather not answer yet. At some point, though, it won't have any other option.

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Here is a list of international resources.

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Facebook's AI suicide prevention tool can save lives, but the company won't say how it works

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For many people who've dedicated their lives to preventing suicide, social media posts can be a precious dataset that contains hints about what people say and do before they attempt suicide. In the past few years, researchers have built algorithms to learn which words and emoji are associated with suicidal thoughts.

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This article is about the unexpected suicide of a Ministry Director.

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A director in the Ministry of Youth and Social Development in Lagos State, Oludare Buraimoh, has reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself for reasons yet to be known.

The deceased, a resident of Unity Estate, Phase 11 Gbonagun area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, was reported to have killed himself inside his apartment.

The Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi who confirmed the development on Tuesday, said the director took his life a few hours after attending to his son, Dotun, who was down with malaria.

"It is true that the man committed suicide shortly after attending to his son, who was sick. The corpse has been deposited in the mortuary as investigation continues," Mr. Oyeyemi said.

The police spokesperson said the son of the deceased reported the case at the Obantoko Divisional Police Headquarters.

The late director's son said that the incident happened around 4 p.m. after his father gave him a drug to treat malaria.

"We were both at home. He came to give me a drug and left me (and I was) thinking he was going to retire to his room. But when I did not hear his voice I called him, but got no response," he said.

"I, thereafter, went to his room only to find him hanging from the ceiling with a traditional 'aso oke' (attire) tied to his neck and a stool with which he committed the suicide," the son said.

He said on the discovery of the development, he alerted the neighbors, who in turn, told him to alert the police.

A visit to the family home of the deceased by the reporter showed a saddened widow yet to come to terms with the grave loss.

"I don't know what came over him, it is inexplicable. We have been surviving through thick and thin and now that we ought to sit down and enjoy after all the years of toiling, he decided to take his life," the deceased's wife said.

"He did not show any sign of depression. ‎ He was in high spirit. What led him to do this remains a riddle," she said.

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Ministry Director commits suicide | The Abuja Times

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A director in the Ministry of Youth and Social Development in Lagos State, Oludare Buraimoh, has reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself for reasons yet to be known. The deceased, a resident of Unity Estate, Phase 11 Gbonagun area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, was reported to have killed himself inside his apartment.

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This article discusses a man who committed suicide unexpectedly and how the views on suicide changed for the mans son.

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WHEN THOMAS Joiner was 25 years old, his father-whose name was also Thomas Joiner and who could do anything-disappeared from the family's home. At the time, Joiner was a graduate student at the University of Texas, studying clinical psychology. His focus was depression, and it was obvious to him that his father was depressed. Six weeks earlier, on a family trip to the Georgia coast, the gregarious 56-year-old-the kind of guy who was forever talking and laughing and bending people his way-was sullen and withdrawn, spending days in bed, not sick or hungover, not really sleeping.

Joiner knew enough not to worry. He knew that the desire for death-the easy way out, the only relief-was a symptom of depression, and although at least 2 percent of those diagnosed make suicide their final chart line, his father didn't match the suicidal types he had learned about in school. He wasn't weak or impulsive. He wasn't a brittle person with bad genes and big problems. Suicide was understood to be for losers, basically, the exact opposite of men like Thomas Joiner Sr.-a successful businessman, a former Marine, tough even by Southern standards.

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But Dad had left an unmade bed in a spare room, and an empty spot where his van usually went. By nightfall he hadn't been heard from, and the following morning Joiner's mother called him at school. The police had found the van. It was parked in an office lot about a mile from the house, the engine cold. Inside, in the back, the police found Joiner's father dead, covered in blood. He had been stabbed through the heart.

The investigators found slash marks on his father's wrists and a note on a yellow sticky pad by the driver's seat. "Is this the answer?" it read, in his father's shaky scrawl. They ruled it a suicide, death by "puncture wound," an impossibly grisly way to go, which made it all the more difficult for Joiner to understand. This didn't seem like the easy way out.

Back home for the funeral, Joiner's pain and confusion were compounded by ancient taboos. For centuries suicide was considered an act against God, a violation of law, and a stain on the community. He overheard one relative advise another to call it a heart attack. His girlfriend fretted about his tainted DNA. Even some of his peers and professors-highly trained, doctoral-level clinicians-failed to offer a simple "my condolences." It was as though the Joiner family had failed dear old Dad, killed him somehow, just as surely as if they had stabbed him themselves. To Joiner, however, the only real failing was from his field, which clearly had a shaky understanding of suicide.

Survivors of a suicide are haunted by the same whys and hows, the what-ifs that can never be answered. Joiner was no different. He wanted to know why people die at their own hands: What makes them desire death in the first place? When exactly do they decide to end their lives? How do they build up the nerve to do it? But unlike most other survivors of suicide, for the last two decades he has been developing answers.

Joiner is 47 now, and a chaired professor at Florida State University, in Tallahassee. Physically, he is an imposing figure, 6-foot-3 with a lantern jaw and a head shaved clean with a razor. He wears an off-and-on beard, which grows in as heavy as iron filings. The look fits his work, which is dedicated to interrogating suicide as hard as anyone ever has, to finally understand it as a matter of public good and personal duty. He hopes to honor his father, by combating what killed him and by making his death a stepping stone to better treatment. "Because," as he says, "no one should have to die alone in a mess in a hotel bathroom, in the back of a van, or on a park bench, thinking incorrectly that the world will be better off."

He is the author of the first comprehensive theory of suicide, an explanation, as he told me, "for all suicides at all times in all cultures across all conditions." He also has much more than a theory: he has a moment. This spring, suicide news paraded down America's front pages and social-media feeds, led by a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which called self-harm "an increasing public health concern." Although the CDC revealed grabby figures-like the fact that there are more deaths by suicide than by road accident-the effort prompted only a tired spasm of talk about aging baby boomers and life in a recession. The CDC itself, in an editorial note, suggested that the party would rock on once the economy rebounded and our Dennis Hopper-cohort rode its hog into the sunset.

But suicide is not an economic problem or a generational tic. It's not a secondary concern, a sideline that will solve itself with new jobs, less access to guns, or a more tolerant society, although all would be welcome. It's a problem with a broad base and terrible momentum, a result of seismic changes in the way we live and a corresponding shift in the way we die-not only in America but around the world.

We know, thanks to a growing body of research on suicide and the conditions that accompany it, that more and more of us are living through a time of seamless black: a period of mounting clinical depression, blossoming thoughts of oblivion and an abiding wish to get there by the nonscenic route. Every year since 1999, more Americans have killed themselves than the year before, making suicide the nation's greatest untamed cause of death. In much of the world, it's among the only major threats to get significantly worse in this century than in the last.

The result is an accelerating paradox. Over the last five decades, millions of lives have been remade for the better. Yet within this brighter tomorrow, we suffer unprecedented despair. In a time defined by ever more social progress and astounding innovations, we have never been more burdened by sadness or more consumed by self-harm. And this may be only the beginning. If Joiner and others are right-and a landmark collection of studies suggests they are-we've reached the end of one order of human history and are at the beginning of a new order entirely, one beset by a whole lot of self-inflicted bloodshed, and a whole lot more to come.

THE RISE of suicide in the U.S. has been slow enough to sneak up on people. I realized this just the other day, on the phone with Catherine Barber, who directs the Means Matter Campaign, a suicide-prevention program at Harvard. A decade ago, she led the team that designed the National Violent Death Reporting System, a key source of federal data on premature exits. Because she's now focused on education and prevention, not data mining, it had been a few years since she looked at national numbers, so we logged on together.

We selected suicide from a drop-down menu of violent injuries that also included accidents, murder, and war, and we clicked send. Our screens blinked-hers in Boston, mine in New York-and up popped a simple black-and-white chart. The world's most depressing spreadsheet. There are as many intentional ways to die as there are people to imagine them, and we saw more of all of them: an almost 20 percent rise in the annual suicide rate, a 30 percent jump in the sheer number of people who died, at least 400,000 casualties in a decade-about the same toll as World War II and Korea combined.

We saw more jumping and shooting, poisoning and stabbing, drowning, and strangulation. We even saw more death by "unspecified means," a catch-all column for the most inventive forms of self-destruction-the swan dives into lava, the encounters with farm equipment. As she scrolled through the woe, Barber began to mutter to herself: "Oh, shoot ... yeah, that's no good ... the increase is across all methods ... dang."

This year, America is likely to reach a grim milestone: the 40,000th death by suicide, the highest annual total on record, and one reached years ahead of what would be expected by population growth alone. We blew past an even bigger milestone revealed in November, when a study lead by Ian Rockett, an epidemiologist at West Virginia University, showed that suicide had become the leading cause of "injury death" in America. As the CDC noted again this spring, suicide outpaces the rate of death on the road-and for that matter anywhere else people accidentally harm themselves. Somewhere Ralph Nader is smiling, but the takeaway is darkly profound: we've become our own greatest danger.

This development evades simple explanation. The shift in suicides began long before the recession, for example, and although the changes accelerated after 2007, when the unemployment rate began to rise, no more than a quarter of those new suicides have been tied to joblessness, according to researchers. Guns aren't all to blame either, since the suicide rate has grown even as the portion of suicides by firearm has remained stable.

The fact is, self-harm has become a worldwide concern. This emerged in the new Global Burden of Disease report, published in The Lancet this past December. It's the largest ever effort to document what ails, injures, and exterminates the species. But allow me to save you the reading. Humankind's biggest health problem is humankind.

The coordinating center for the GBD, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, provided Newsweek with custom data that bears this out in dramatic fashion. At first glance, the numbers seem to be uniformly good news. The suicide rate-the number of people per 100,000 who killed themselves each year-dropped in developed countries between 1990 to 2010 and grew only slightly overall. But these age-adjusted good tidings mask considerable trauma in the population at large.

Throughout the developed world, for example, self-harm is now the leading cause of death for people 15 to 49, surpassing all cancers and heart disease. That's a dizzying change, a milestone that shows just how effective we are at fighting disease, and just how haunted we remain at the same time. Around the world, in 2010 self-harm took more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined, stealing more than 36 million years of healthy life across all ages. In more advanced countries, only three diseases on the planet do more harm.

And this assumes we can even rely on the official data. Many researchers believe it's a dramatic undercount, a function of fewer autopsies and more deaths by poison and pills, where intention is hard to detect. Ian Rockett of West Virginia University thinks the true rate is at least 30 percent higher, which would make suicide three times more common than murder. Last fall the World Health Organization estimated that "global rates" of suicide are up 60 percent since World War II. And none of this includes the pestilence of suicidal behavior, the thoughts and plans that slowly eat away at people, the corrosive social cost of 25 attempts for every one official death.

But perhaps the most concerning part of these developments, according to Harvey Whiteford, head of the GBD's mental and behavioral health group, is that the changes behind them are likely to intensify amid the galloping progress of developing nations. Where people lack basic services, they live unsanitary, impoverished lives, and death comes to visit long before it's invited. Where conditions improve, life expectancy does too, and somewhere in this transition there is a tipping point, a Rubicon beyond which death is no longer a bone-fingered stranger but the man in the mirror.

That's scary in a world of constant (and welcome) improvement, but there's an even bigger reason to fear the burden of suicide in the new millennium: it's a charge being led by people in middle age. In America in the last decade, the suicide rate has declined among teens and people in their early 20s, and it's also down or stable for the elderly. Almost the entire rise-as both the new CDC and GBD numbers show-is driven by changes in a single band of people, a demographic once living a happy life atop the human ziggurat: men and women 45 to 64, essentially baby boomers and their international peers in the developed world.

The suicide rate for Americans 45 to 64 has jumped more than 30 percent in the last decade, according to the new CDC report, and it's possible to slice the data even more finely than they did. Among white, middle-aged men, the rate has jumped by more than 50 percent, according to a Newsweek analysis of the public data. If these guys were to create a breakaway territory, it would have the highest suicide rate in the world. In wealthy countries, suicide is the leading cause of death for men in their 40s, a top-five killer of men in their 50s, and the burden of suicide has increased by double digits in both groups since 1990.

The situation is even more dramatic for white, middle-aged women, who experienced a 60 percent rise in suicide in that same period, a shift accompanied by a comparable increase in emergency-room visits for drug-related (usually prescription-drug-related) attempts to die. In a sad twist, they often make a bid for death using the same medicine that was supposed to turn them back toward life. And the picture is equally grim for women in high-income countries, where self-harm trails only breast cancer as a killer of women in their early 40s-and has become the leading killer of women in their 30s. "In the middle of the journey of our life / I found myself in a dark wood," begins Dante's epic tour of hell. He wouldn't have to change the line today.

Baby boomers have the highest suicide rate right now, but everyone born after 1945 shows a higher rate than expected.

In the United States, Julie Phillips, a sociologist at Rutgers University, was among the first researchers to frisk these middle-age suicides for deeper meaning. In 2010 she and a colleague declared the age range a new danger zone for self-harm. Many commentators took this as another fun fact about the boomers, not a cause for general alarm. But earlier this month, Phillips presented the results of a second paper, an attempt to settle the question of whether the boomers were especially suicidal. She sifted through eight decades of U.S. suicide data, wrenching it to separate the influence of absolute age, peer effects, and the events of the moment, and she found something shocking: the boomers have the highest suicide rate right now, but everyone born after 1945 shows a higher suicide risk than expected-and everyone is on pace for a higher rate than the boomers.

That means that the last decade isn't just a statistical blip, a function of a bad recession, unlocked gun cases, or an aging counterculture. It's much darker, and deeper than all that. This is the "new epidemiology of suicide," as Phillips puts it, one where the tectonic changes of the last decade-socially, culturally, economically-have created a heavy burden of suicide, growing heavier by the year. "The baby-boomer generation," Phillips writes in her new paper on boomers, "may be the tip of the iceberg."

When teen suicide was on the rise in the 1970s and 1980s, society was stung by the conclusion that something must be wrong with the way we live, because our children don't want to join us. The question today is different, but just as unsettling. With people relinquishing life at its supposed peak, what does that say about the prize itself? What's gone so rotten in the modern world? In her next bundle of research, Phillips hopes to pinpoint the massive, steam-rolling social change that matters most for self-harm. She has a good list of suspects: the astounding rise in people living alone, or else feeling alone; the rise in the number of people living in sickness and pain; the fact that church involvement no longer increases with age, while bankruptcy rates, health-care costs, and long-term unemployment certainly do.

Sociologists in general believe that when society robs people of self-control, individual dignity, or a connection to something larger than themselves, suicide rates rise. They are all descendants of Emile Durkheim, who helped found the field in the late-19th century, choosing to study suicide so he could prove that "social facts" explain even this "most personal act." But when someone's son dies by suicide and the family cries out for an answer, "social facts" don't begin to assuage the pain or solve the mystery. When a government health official considers how he might slow down the suicide problem, "society" is a phantom he can't fight without another kind of theory entirely.

I MET Thomas Joiner in Tallahassee one sunny day in March, the kind of day that gives people hope and moves others to die. Spring is the start of suicide season, the time when the average daily death toll begins its climb to a mid-summer peak, before tapering through fall and winter. This is one of the strongest findings in the field, a 200-year debunking of Herman Melville's damp, drizzly November of the soul. One respected 19th-century French researcher actually calculated a boiling point for suicidal desire. It's 82 degrees, basically paradise.

But why? What is it about cherry blossoms that crowds the throat with sorrow? For years after his father's death, Joiner amassed such odd facts about suicide, a bewildering catalog on a condition as old as society. For centuries there hadn't been much to collect, and what there was, was often insulting. In the first half of the 20th century, suicide research got Freudian. Suicide was attributed to murderous rage turned inward, a death wish topped with a dollop of autoerotic desire. Was Thomas Joiner Sr. a man lost in a deadly spiral of masturbation and guilt? Somehow his son couldn't see it.

By the time Joiner got his Ph.D. in 1993, the literature was full of facts about self-harm, but most were as perplexing as the notion of a spring suicide season. If four out of five suicide attempts are by women, why are four out of five suicides by men? If big cities and beautiful architecture are magnets for suicide, why are natural wonders and public parks as well? Prostitutes, athletes, and bulimics have an above-average risk for suicide, but what else do they have in common? Why are African-American people relatively safe? And twins?

Joiner had no idea when he took his first job at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. It was the first time since his father's death that he got to regularly look suicidal people in the eye, only this time he did so knowingly, as a therapist, and with a decision to make: which of these people were risks to themselves? Under Texas law he was allowed to lock people up if they were, but space in the ward was tight, and he needed a way to sort the imminent threats from the not so imminent. He needed something that let him sleep at night. But how could he tell one from another?

The theories out there didn't offer an answer. Neither did the lists of more than 100 known "risk factors," which were too broadly defined, and most patients suffered from more than one: family conflict, combat experience, childhood abuse, poor sleep, drug and alcohol use, access to the means to die, witnessing suicide, previously attempting suicide, feeling alone, feeling angry, feeling purposeless-the list went on for pages. Single people, gay people, the newly widowed, the suddenly unemployed, the terminally ill, and the lonely were all found to be at an increased risk for suicide. But which of these factors could help differentiate people who want to live from those who want to die, and then again from those who ultimately do kill themselves? This was a huge hole in the field. On the journey from suicidal thought to metal gurney, 99.5 percent of people stray. What is it about the other 0.5 percent?

After hundreds of hours of sitting with patients, poring over research, and pounding his own memory, Joiner got a shoulder touch of inspiration: a seven-word explanation of everything. Why do people die by suicide? Because they want to. Because they can. Dozens of risk factors banged down to a formula he shared with me in his office: "People will die by suicide when they have both the desire to die and the ability to die." When he broke down "the desire" and "the ability," he found what he believes is the one true pathway to suicide.

It's a "clearly delineated danger zone," a set of three overlapping conditions that combine to create a dark alley of the soul. The conditions are tightly defined, and they overlap rarely enough to explain the relatively rare act of suicide. But what's alarming is that each condition itself isn't extreme or unusual, and the combined suicidal state of mind is not unfathomably psychotic. On the contrary, suicide's Venn diagram is composed of circles we all routinely step in, or near, never realizing we are in the deadly center until it's too late. Joiner's conditions of suicide are the conditions of everyday life.

He calls the first "low belonging," and it's the most intuitive idea in his formula. Joiner argues that "the desire to die" begins with loneliness, a thwarted need for inclusion and connection. That explains why suicide rates rise by a third on the continuum from married to never been married. It also accords with the fact that divorced people suffer the greatest suicide risk, while twins have reduced risk and mothers of small children have close to the lowest risk. A mother of six has six times the protection of her childless counterpart, according to one study. She may die of work and worry, but not of self-harm.

The need to belong is so strong, Joiner says, that it sometimes expresses itself even in death. "I'm walking to the bridge," begins a Golden Gate Bridge suicide note he cites. "If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump." The writer jumped. He was alone, and so are more of the rest of us. Unattached is the new fancy-free, a strategy for success that translates to later marriages, easier divorces, fewer kids, and a tendency to keep running toward the next horizon, skipping family dinner in the process.

Twelve years and a tech revolution after Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone, his treatise on the decline in American community, the institutions that used to bind America together have, if anything, crumbled even further. People tell surveyors that the world has become less helpful, trustworthy, and fair. It's a place where you work longer at more deadening jobs for less pay, your life pulsing away with each new email, or worse, each additional hour on your feet. What's deadly about all this is the loss of what Joiner calls "reciprocal care." When people have no shoulder to lean on, they feel more isolated, and that isolation can be lethal.

Maybe Facebook is not "making us lonely," as Stephen Marche argued in an Atlantic cover story last spring. But Facebook doesn't help. "The greater the proportion of online interactions, the lonelier you are," John Cacioppo, a professor at the University of Chicago and the world's foremost expert on loneliness, told Marche. The opposite is also true: more face time, less loneliness. But as you might expect, the trend lines in our relationships are all in one direction.

The life-saving power of belonging may explain why, in America, Hispanics and African-Americans have lower suicide rates than whites.

For her 2011 book, Alone Together, MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle interviewed more than 450 people, most of them in their teens and 20s, about their lives online. She's the author of two prior tech-positive books, but this time she discovered a sadder, more antiseptic world, a place where people turn to their machines more than each other. She even identified a long-term trend toward sex with robots, a future where we'll prefer mechanical company over the mess of human interaction. (And here you thought it was hard enough to live up to our current crop of battery-powered lovers: the flicker of Internet porn, the hum of a bedside power tool). After a decade of decline in face-to-face gatherings, Mark Silva, CEO of Great Unions, one of the nation's largest reunion-planning companies, launched a new marketing pitch: "Unplug for a night." He might now be justified to add: "Or else."

The life-saving power of belonging may help explain why, in America, blacks and Hispanics have long had much lower suicide rates than white people. They are more likely to be lashed together by poverty, and more enduringly tied by the bonds of faith and family. In the last decade, as suicide rates have surged among middle-aged whites, the risk for blacks and Hispanics of the same age has increased less than a point-although they suffer worse health by almost every other measure. There's an old joke in the black community, a nod to the curious powers of poverty and oppression to keep suicide rates low. It's simple, really: you can't die by jumping from a basement window.

Joiner calls his second condition "burdensomeness," and it may be as emotionally intuitive as loneliness. When people see themselves as effective-as providers for their families, resources for their friends, contributors to the world-they maintain the will to live. When they lose that view of themselves, when it curdles into a feeling of liability, the desire to die takes root. We need each other, but if we feel we are failing those we need, the choice is clear. We'd rather be dead.

This explains why suicides rise with unemployment, and also with the number of days a person has been on bed rest. Just the experience of needing and receiving help from friends-rather than doing for oneself and others-can make a person pine for death. We're a gregarious species, but also a gallant one, so fond of playing the savior that we'd rather die than switch roles with the saved. In this way suicide isn't the ultimate act of selfishness or a bid for revenge, two of the more common cultural barbs. It's closer to mistaken heroism.

If suicide has an evolutionary component, as Joiner believes it might, this is where it manifests itself. Humans are not the only animals that commit suicide. Bumblebees kill themselves as a defense against parasites, abandoning the nest to save it. Pea aphids do something similar. They use a kind of suicide bomb that maims ladybugs, their biggest predator, to save their own kind. Higher up in the animal kingdom, male lions sacrifice themselves on the savannas: they expose their throats to attacking clans in an effort to give other family members a chance to escape. A similar instinct may still linger in our DNA, colliding uncomfortably with the frailties and banalities of modern life.

Has there ever been a society that does more than our own to make people feel like ineffective animals? Whole neighborhoods are caught in federal catch nets, incarcerated or snared in a cycle of government benefits. Millions more are poor or near poor, most likely stuck that way. And never have Americans been heavier, or sicker. One in five people in middle age suffers multiple chronic diseases, double the rate of a decade earlier. If Joiner is right, all these developments are as hard on the mind as on the body. As one of the suicide notes Joiner quotes puts it: "Survival of the fittest. Adios. Unfit."

The recession can't explain the new trends in suicide, but longer-term structural changes in the economy may undergird many of them. Only recently have economists begun to focus on the psychological impact of income inequality, tying the wealth and happiness of all to the risk of suicide for some. If you make 10 percent less than your neighbor, for example, you are 4.5 percent more likely to die by suicide, according to a paper led by Mary C. Daly, who works for the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. In an earlier study, she and colleagues found that suicide rates generally rise with measures of national "happiness," a fact that accords nicely with Joiner's ideas about alienation and burdensomeness. It's hard to be sad and alone, and even harder if others seem too happy to disturb.

If Joiner is right about the suicidal peril of feeling useless, then long-term changes in the economy can also help explain the new demographics of suicide. As the U.S. workforce has transitioned from brawn to brain over the past three decades, women have matched or overtaken men as a percentage of all job holders. In doing so, however, they seem to acquire some of the traditional male risk for suicide when their performance in those roles falters. That could be why the suicide shift is stark among middle-aged educated women, according to forthcoming research by Hyeyoung Woo, a sociologist at Portland State University. They are the rare group where more school is associated with more opportunity-but also more self-harm.

Among their middle-aged male counterparts, the opposite is true: those with less education have a greater suicide risk. The states with the highest suicide rates tend to be clustered in the South and the Mountain West, areas with a lot of white men and guns, a historically bad combination for self-harm. This suicide belt is also defined by what psychologists have dubbed a "culture of honor." As Joiner has discovered, that means higher murder rates but even more-exaggerated suicide rates, a fact he attributes to millennia of old masculine codes meeting a disappearance of blue-collar jobs unlikely to reverse itself. Give me honor, or give me death was a safer personal motto when honor could still be readily found.

Even people in their teens and earlier 20s may discover the lethal effects of unemployment. Krysia Mossakowski, a sociologist at the University of Hawaii, has found that people unemployed for long stretches during their young years are far more likely to show signs of depression and alcoholism as they approach middle age. This finding held regardless of psychological history, and it was unshakable even among those young people who went on to flourish in the workforce. In Japan, meanwhile, most mental-health-related disability claims are filed by people who entered the labor force during the economically "lost decade" of the 1990s. They're in their 30s now, and increasingly depressed.

But then again so is everyone. The trends in suicide in both America and abroad are mirrored by devastating changes in behavior and mental health. In the last two decades, for example, there's been a 37 percent increase in the years of life lost to clinical depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, and other disorders of the mind, according to the batch of previously unpublished GBD data provided to Newsweek. As a group, these disorders are the leading cause of disability in the world, vexing developing countries in particular, and the United States most of all. In the land that commercialized positive thinking and put pill bottles in every drawer, depression has emerged as the most debilitating condition we face.

Joiner calls his final condition for suicide "fearlessness," and all that really means is "the ability to die," an ability he says people have to develop over time. That's because it's hard to kill yourself. This should be obvious. The human body is built to endure, the mind rigged to flee from death, which is why so many people flinch. They apply the brakes, pull up at the railing, beg someone to pump their stomach, lever themselves off the tracks, or just pass out before they can inflict the damage they intend.

Athletes, doctors, prostitutes, and bulimics all share a heightened risk of suicide. All have a history of tamping down the instinct to scream.

In this way, suicide isn't about cowardice. It's not painless or easy, like pulling the fire alarm to get out of math class. It takes "a kind of courage," says Joiner, "a fearless endurance" that's not laudable, but certainly not weak or impulsive. On the contrary, he says, suicide takes a slow habituation to pain, a numbness to violence. He points to that heightened suicide risk shared by athletes, doctors, prostitutes, and bulimics, among others-anybody with a history of tamping down the body's instinct to scream, which goes a long way to unlocking the riddle of military suicides.

For the population at large, it might seem mildly reassuring at first. After all, most of us don't fall into these categories. But Joiner believes there may be a side door to fearlessness: exposure to violence in media. Remember this debate? Well, it's basically over. "The strength of the association between media violence and aggressive behavior," the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded in 2009, "is greater than the association between calcium intake and bone mass, lead ingestion and lower IQ, and condom nonuse and sexually acquired HIV infection, and is nearly as strong as the association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer." In one of the studies reviewed, a social psychologist showed students pictures of a man shoving a gun down another man's throat, among other images. The people who had been exposed to more violent media didn't respond. They were numb.

Joiner first sketched his theory about a decade ago, which isn't all that different from yesterday in the science world, a place where evolution is still just a theory. But his ideas have already survived direct challenges, and he has defended them before ballrooms of academics and long tables lined with government officials. The Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations have forked over cash, as have the National Institutes of Health and the Pentagon, which recently tapped him to co-direct its Military Suicide Research Consortium. In two books- Why People Die by Suicide (2005) and Myths About Suicide (2010), both published by Harvard University Press-and hundreds of articles, he has built a testable model. It's "elegant" in the words of Aaron Beck, a University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist, known as the father of cognitive therapy. It's "insightful" and "effective," added the American Psychological Association, which published a $60 volume of Joiner's work to help guide clinicians suffering their own Galveston crossroads.

As we discussed suicide in his office, the Florida sun blazing through a picture window, Joiner gently bounced side to side in a swivel chair. He wore blue jeans and a short-sleeve button-down in the buff color of a cartoon desert. He spoke in careful, complete sentences. But it was hard to concentrate once I noticed the trophy-size silver fish and coiled snake mounted near his computer. "That's a piranha," he explained, "and that's a rattlesnake." He keeps both as reminders of this principle that killing your own kind, let alone yourself, is hard to do. "The piranha won't do it. They'll kill us, but they won't kill each other," he says. "Same with rattlesnakes. They have venom and fangs and everything, but they don't use those. They wrestle. It's a rule of nature, not a hard fact, but a rule of thumb: you don't kill your own."

And yet his father did. He grew lonely, letting old friendships die as he built his career. He formed an identity through work, one that left him rudderless when he entered semi-retirement. Here was his sense of not belonging, a feeling so acute he tried to join an African-American church, apparently lured by the community and the possibility of connection. The sense of burdensomeness came later, as his dark moods prevented him from being the pillar he had been within his family. That gave rise to the desire to die, according to Joiner's theory.

But the ability to die took root earlier and grew much more slowly. Joiner's father had a lifetime of painful physical experiences-freak accidents, sporting injuries. He was also a fisherman, a man who knew how to use a knife and was comfortable with blood on his hands. Joiner recalls one fishing trip in particular, father and son unzipping the sea in a boat that felt like a 25-foot piece of driftwood in the heaving Atlantic. When a sudden storm developed, Joiner watched his father wrestle the waves, trying to keep the tiny yacht from capsizing. He gripped the wheel until it snapped off, at which point he steered using all that remained, a shattered column, his hands slashed and bleeding.

This, in the end, is what killed him, Joiner says: the fact that his father was strong enough, in a perverted way, to fall on his own knife. This, and the fact that he found himself in the center of the three circles of risk. After decades of walking in and out of them, much as we all do, he walked into the middle.

These days, Joiner's thoughts have shifted toward prevention. If he's right about suicide, the ability to foil one of the three variables is the ability to save a life. Smart clinicians can do it, but it's not easy to get people into treatment. There's the cost, for one thing, but more than that, there's the shame and the stigma. Suicide is the rare killer that fails to inspire celebrity PSAs, 5K fun runs, and shiny new university centers for study and treatment. That has to change, says Joiner. "We need to get it in our heads that suicide is not easy, painless, cowardly, selfish, vengeful, self-masterful, or rash," he says. "And once we get all that in our heads at last, we need to let it lead our hearts."
Need help? In the U.S. call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

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WHEN THOMAS Joiner was 25 years old, his father-whose name was also Thomas Joiner and who could do anything-disappeared from the family's home. At the time, Joiner was a graduate student at the University of Texas, studying clinical psychology. His focus was depression, and it was obvious to him that his father was depressed.

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This article is about the rapid increase in suicides among teenagers and children

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On the outside, T.J. Sefcik seemed to have it all. His family loved him. He was a two-sport athlete at Montville High School, playing hockey and lacrosse.

But inside, Sefcik was battling depression and mood swings. His behavior became erratic. He was in the care of a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Counselors, teachers, friends, coaches and his family were looking out for him.

In December of 2010, Sefcik stepped in front of a tractor-trailer on Route 287. He left a text on his phone, in which he said he was "giving up" and that he was "sorry for the all the trouble he caused."

He was 16 years old.

Sefcik isn't alone. More children and teenagers in New Jersey are committing suicide, a phenomenon that's ringing alarm bells for mental health professionals. After unintentional injury and illness, suicide is now the third leading cause of death for New Jersey's young people ages 10-24.

The number of suicides among children and young adults has increased 40 percent since 2002, according to the New Jersey Youth Suicide Report. The report was compiled by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families and uses data up to 2015, the most recent year for which it is available. It was at an all-time low 15 years ago, in 2002, at 3.2 suicides out of every 100,000 children. Now it's at 5.5 suicides per every 100,000 children.

And it's not just New Jersey. Teenage suicide is climbing across the United States, peaking at a rate of 8.5 out of 100,000 children and teens nationally.

But the question is, why is this happening? And what can be done?

Psychologists point to an array of factors, such as the rise of social media and online bullying, transgender and sexuality issues, increased academic and social pressure and increased access to drugs and alcohol.

"This is definitely something that needs attention," said Maureen Brogan, the statewide Traumatic Loss Coalition coordinator at Rutgers University. Brogan, a licensed professional counselor and a New Jersey-certified Disaster Response Crisis Counselor, sits on the Governor's Youth Suicide Prevention Council.
Watch: How You Can Prevent Your Children From Becoming Victims Of Bullying
Her group is the one called into schools to talk to students and staff after there is a suicide. "When we're talking about something that is the third leading cause of death for young people - that needs attention."
Suicide on the rise among pre-teens, too
Sadly, there is an even more alarming trend occurring: While suicide rates are declining for older teens, those ages 19-24, they are increasing for younger teens and pre-teens, ages 10-18. Since 2007, suicide rates among children between the ages of 10 and 14 has doubled, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

"We are starting to see deaths by suicide at younger ages, such as in 9- and 10-year-olds," Brogan said. "It's still few enough that they don't become statistically significant. But it's still an increase."

Part of that may be because their deaths are more accurately classified than in the past, she said; they used to be labeled as accidents. But more research is badly needed about why pre-teens are increasingly taking their own lives, she said.

Chart from the New Jersey Youth Suicide Report
"Mental health struggles are the number one cause of suicide among children," said Dr. Tamar Kahane, an adolescent psychologist and founder of the Kahane Center for Developmental and Psychological Well Being in Englewood. "A young child does not have the capacity yet to have foresight and plan the way adults can. They can be more impulsive. That puts them at a higher risk of doing something dangerous, not just committing suicide."

Teen suicides often come in clusters, and school officials say they must react swiftly to make sure students aren't overwhelmed with grief - and to prevent copycat issues. A student who is in distress or on the edge may be pushed into action by seeing a friend or classmate choose to end their life, suicide experts say.

Without intervention, it can lead to a series of events that leaves deep scars in a community.

Manasquan experienced this unfortunate scenario between 2008 and 2012. The Manasquan "cluster," which claimed at least 10 lives from 2008 to 2013, is widely regarded as one of the worst suicide clusters in the country. All of those who killed themselves were either teens or young adults.

It began with Tim Schenke, an 18-year-old honors student at Manasquan High School. He was hit by a train on the evening of April 26, 2008, in Spring Lake; his death was later ruled a suicide. Connor Cameron, 15, a competitive bodyboarder and well-liked, popular student at the high school, was the 10th and final death; he died in Feb. 15, 2012. He was also hit and killed by a train.

Schenke's mother, Lisa, said her son battled depression for years.

"The adolescent mind is very different from our mind," said Phyllis Alongi, clinical director at the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, based in Freehold. "Their judgment is so cloudy with desperation and emotional pain, and the emotional pain is so intense that it's difficult for an adolescent to decipher, 'Am I always going to feel this way? Where can I go for help? Is someone going to be able to get me out of this?' They're stuck."
Chart from the New Jersey Youth Suicide Report

Is bullying the root of the suicide increase in children and teens?

There have been many high-profile cases to support this position, including the death of Tyler Clementi. Mallory Grossman, a 12-year-old girl in Rockaway, Morris County, just died suddenly last week; her mother said she was bullied before her death.

Some counselors and parents say it's more often an underlying, undiagnosed mental health or emotional issue that can torment a child, and not bullying.

"A lot of kids are bullied and go through breakups, and they don't kill themselves," said Wendy Sefcik, T.J.'s mother, in Montville. "The bullying isn't OK, but that's not the reason behind the suicide. There is something else there: depression. There is a difference between someone who is struggling due to a life event and someone who has a true mental health condition like depression."

Brogan, the Rutgers counselor, agrees. Online bullying gets a lot of media attention nowadays, but it's not always the culprit behind youth suicide that people think it is, she said.

"What's really interesting about social media, which has been around for 15 years now, is that it can be both negative and positive in terms of teen suicide," Brogan said. "Yes, we've all heard of the cyber bullying. But what we're actually starting to see now is young people using the internet to connect, such as the 'It Gets Better' campaign for LGBTQ youth."
Who is most at risk for suicide?
Another big culprit is stress. Today's teens face extremely high expectations to excel.

"There is a lot of internal pressure young people put on themselves to be the best - you can't just have good grades, you have to have straight As," Brogan said. "You can't just be a good athlete, you have to be an elite athlete. Somehow, as a society, we've made 'average' bad. Do you ever hear a parent say, 'I'm just so grateful my kid is average?'"

Teen boys are much more likely to die by suicide than teen girls, the 2015 New Jersey study found. That's in part because boys choose more lethal methods. Teen boys are overwhelmingly more likely than girls to use firearms: 21 percent of boys ended their life with a gun versus 8 percent of girls. Yet teen girls are more likely to use poison, the study found.

"There is absolutely a gender difference. Males take their own lives at four times the rate of females," said Alongi. "Young women who attempt suicide tend to use more non-violent means, whereas young men use firearms, which are more likely to result in death."

Mental illness and emotional issues manifest differently among boys and girls, experts say.

"We know that impulsivity can play a large role as a risk factor, so any diagnosis in which that is a side effect or a symptom, or any clinical diagnosis that increases impulsivity, is at an increased risk (of suicide)," Alongi said. "Research tells us that more males than females are diagnosed with ADHD and ADD, which includes being impulsive."

Teen girls are more likely to suffer from other psychological problems, such as depression and anxiety. Early onset puberty can also lead to suicidal thoughts or preoccupation in teen girls, Alongi said.

Suicide rates also vary widely in different geographical regions in New Jersey. For example, teen suicide is markedly higher in rural areas of New Jersey.

According to the report, New Jersey's Skylands region, which includes counties like Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon and Warren, has the highest rate of youth suicide in people ages 10-24, at 7.4 per 100,000.

New Jersey's most urban zones, areas like Newark, Paterson and Jersey City, have the lowest rates of suicides.
Google Maps/Information from the New Jersey Youth Suicide Report
Part of that is access to guns, Brogan said, which is higher in rural communities. There also are not enough mental health resources in rural areas, and teens may have to drive miles to get to a counseling center, she said. They don't see signs about mental health resources while walking to school or getting on the bus, which they might in more urban areas, she said.

But there are some positive changes being made: Gun shops in rural parts of the country are now partnering with suicide-prevention groups to educate customers about suicide and prevent them from getting guns.

The three counties with the highest rates of youth suicide are Morris with 6.8, Monmouth with 5.5 and Bergen with 5 out of 100,000 children and teens. The Jersey Shore region was next, including Monmouth, Ocean and Atlantic counties.
What can be done?
Bergen County had the highest number of teen suicides in 2015, with 26. Salem County had the least with four.

Asian-American teens were the most likely demographic to commit suicide, and their numbers have risen in the past few years, the study shows. White teens and African-American teens have nearly the same suicide rate. Hispanic teens were least likely to commit suicide.

Many places in New Jersey are making an effort to alleviate stress among teens and young people.

Some school districts have opted to bring yoga and mindfulness into the classroom. Stafford Township and Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch both invited yoga teachers into the schools to teach gym teachers, sports teams and students.

Other districts, such as West Windsor-Plainsboro, are giving less homework and have done away with midterms to give kids a break.

Schools have a critical role not just in the aftermath of a suicide but also in prevention and intervention, said Michael Blatt of the Ocean County Health Department.

Blatt, who is the coordinator of the county's Commission for Individuals with Disabilities, also oversees the Ocean County Emergency Response Committee, which assists school districts faced with the death of a student or staff member.

When a student dies, the district's crisis team reaches out to students who may have known the child - classmates, friends or even other family members within the district. When there are signals a student is struggling as a result of the tragedy, counselors address it, even getting the student emergency treatment outside the school if it is warranted, David Healy, the Toms River Regional superintendent, and Thomas Gialanella, the Brick Township interim superintendent, said.

It's also important for parents and teachers to recognize potential warning signs, which include:

Talking about wanting to die

Looking for a way to kill oneself

Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose

Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain

Talking about being a burden to others

Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs

Acting anxious, agitated or recklessly

Sleeping too little or too much

Withdrawing or feeling isolated

Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge

Displaying extreme mood swings

Additional resources:
(The more of these signs a person shows, the greater the risk, according to experts.)

If you are worried someone you know is considering suicide, do not leave them alone. Be sure to remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.

Tlc4teens.org: A website created by the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth, which includes organizations, hotlines and relevant articles that have been vetted by TLC. The site contains links to state and national resources for issues such as suicide prevention, grief, mental health, depression, substance abuse, dating, bullying, anxiety, self-care, underage drinking, sexuality and gender identity.

Call or text 2NDFLOOR - a confidential and anonymous helpline for New Jersey youth and young adults, ages 10 to 24, at 888-222-2228. It is staffed 24 hours a day.

NJ Hopeline: 855-NJ-HOPELINE at 855-654-6735

Here is a breakdown of suicides by 10- to 24-year-olds in New Jersey from 2013-15:
Map from the New Jersey Youth Suicide Report
Want to learn more? Read the entire 2015 New Jersey Youth Suicide Report.
By Carly Baldwin and Daniel Hubbard, Patch Staff Writers Staff writers Katie Kausch and Karen Wall contributed to this report. Image via Pixabay

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More NJ Teens Are Committing Suicide: Why It's Happening And What Can Be Done

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On the outside, T.J. Sefcik seemed to have it all. His family loved him. He was a two-sport athlete at Montville High School, playing hockey and lacrosse. But inside, Sefcik was battling depression and mood swings. His behavior became erratic. He was in the care of a psychologist and a psychiatrist.

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This article is about how 13 Reasons Why brought to life some real struggles of teenagers and how the media has morphed the truth of depression adolescents.

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13 Reasons Why" serija je koja će vam pokvariti doživljaj svake teen serije koju ste pogledali i svake koju ćete ikada vidjeti. I dobro je da je tako.

Srednjoškolka Hannah Baker, prije nego što si oduzme život, ostavlja zvučni zapis svoje priče. Priče koju će čuti upravo oni koji su doprinijeli njezinom tragičnom svršetku. Svakome od razrednih koleg(ic)a i prijatelj(ic)a koji/-e su u bilo kojem trenutku mogli/-e pružiti ruku, Hannah je posvetila po jednu stranu kasete. Na mediju gotovo posve nepoznatom tim klincima, nalazi se Hannahina priča. Čut će je svi oni koji za njezina života nisu slušali. Kasete putuju od jedne osobe do druge, sve dok ih jedno jutro na pragu kuće ne zatekne Clay Jensen, mladić koji je, otkako ju je upoznao kad se tek doselila i prebacila u njegovu školu, zaljubljen u Hannah. Uz povremene susrete u školi, veže ih i posao prodavača ulaznica za kino. Budući da joj je cijelo vrijeme, prema vlastitu uvjerenju, bio prijatelj, Clay je isprva vrlo uzrujan doznavši da se priča o njemu nalazi među pričama o osobama i događajima koji su doveli Hannah do samoubojstva. Ipak, odlučuje poslušati, i serija nas vodi od jednog događaja do drugog, od jedne do druge osobe koje su redom iznevjerile Hannah - od naoko sitnih tinejdžerskih izdaja, preko ozbiljnog maltretiranja, do kulminacije od koje se stegne želudac.

Gledajući seriju (nakon preporuke nekolicine bliskih osoba), isprva sam bila zbunjena. Cijeli pokretač radnje, Hannahino samoubojstvo, činilo se nerealnim, pretjeranim, osobito s obzirom na drzak ton kojim se obraća slušateljima. Unatoč znanjima i iskustvu koje imam, komentirala sam s prijateljem da "suicidalna osoba tako ne nastupa". Samoubojstvo je, razmišljala sam, suviše ozbiljan čin da bi netko time "kažnjavao" poznanike - a u prvim se epizodama serije naslućuje da je upravo to bio Hannahin motiv. Doista, njezin čin djeluje dramatično u odnosu na početak priče - na nesuglasice i pucanja prijateljstava, na krivo protumačenu fotografiju i glasine koje se počinju širiti po školi. Ljutilo me čak, priznjem, jer sam kroz druge serije i filmove kao gledateljica naučila da takvi postupci i događaji "nisu ništa strašno". Ipak, kako se radnja razvija, vidimo kako se snježna gruda kotrlja sve brže, postajući sve veća, i kako najednom, gotovo neprimjetno, gledamo lavinu nesretnih događaja s čijim smo ishodom upoznati na samom početku serije i koji nam sada ima savršenog smisla. Gledatelj(ic)e, dakle, upadaju u brižno pripremljenu i scenaristički sjajno izvedenu zamku koja ih, makar i na trenutak, unatoč svemu što znaju, natjera da pomisle da se u životu prosječne tinejdžerice, u svakodnevnim dramama, ne događa ništa što bi poslužilo kao okidač za tako konačan i tragičan čin.

Kako se radnja razvija, svjedočinom finom tkanju od tankih niti, filigranskom slaganju događaja u strašan mozaik, u mrežu iz koje mlada djevojka ne vidi izlaza. Bullying, vršnjačko zlostavljanje, serija ocrtava savršeno do posljednjeg detalja, prikazujući svu njegovu perfidnost, ali i svaki ožiljak koji ostavlja. Biti pozvan na zabavu ili za stol u kantini od osobe koja te je samo tjedan ranije nazivala pogrdnim imenima ili o tebi širila glasine iskustvo je, nažalost, tako poznato većini tinejdžera. Želja djevojaka da se nekome svide, da budu zavodljive, da istražuju vlastitu seksualnost toliko je finom granicom odvojena od straha za "reputaciju", od noćne more u kojoj ih se proglašava "lakima"; samo je jedan "pogrešan" pogled ili dodir dovoljan da se normalno i zdravo istraživanje sebe i vlastita identiteta pretvori u ozbiljnu traumu. Naime, adolescencija je doba kada je najlakše svaliti odgovornosti i krivnju na žrtvu i reći da je "izazivala" napad - upravo zato što se mlade djevojke uče i "vježbaju" biti izazovne, uče kako flertati i kako privući pažnju - no često se zaboravlja da to nipošto ne znači da su spremne na svaki od izazova seksualnosti, da zaslužuju nasilje, niti da su uopće sposobne, svojim još uvijek nerazvijem frontalnim korteksom, do kraja razumjeti moguće posljedice nekog ponašanja. Iako su stereotipi atraktivne i popularne djevojke, kao i onaj "lake cure" već viđeni i dobro poznati, te iako za njima poseže gotovo svaki scenarist teen serije, obično nema tako zornog prikaza tog plesanja po rubu i finoće, gotovo nevidljivosti, te granice između jedne i druge uloge, preko koje djevojka, osobito uz pomoć društvenih mreža i interneta, može biti gurnuta gotovo preko noći. Upravo u tom detalju - u internetu koji je sveprisutan u životima današnjih tinejdžera - leži jedan od razloga zbog kojeg roditelji u seriji tako tragično slabo razumiju vlastitu djecu. Serija odlično naglašava tu neshvaćenost i propuste u komunikaciji, kao i povremene pokušaje djece da se otvore roditeljima, samo da bi naišli na površno razumijevanje i ofrlji pokušaj poistovjećivanja. Jer posjedovati medij kojim je moguće fotografiju ili neki drugi oblik "vijesti" ili trača u sekundi proširiti društvenim mrežama - koje su tinejdžerima ne samo prostor za izražavanje i druženje, nego i izvor informacija i smjernica o društvenoj prihvatljivosti i vlastitoj prihvaćenosti u socijalnim krugovima - znači posjedovati alat kojim je moguće upravo preko noći od zgodne popularne cure s kojom se vršnjaci žele družiti učiniti "lošu djevojku" za koju vjeruju da "zaslužuje" ne samo posramljivanje i ruganje, nego i neželjene seksualne komentare i dodire.

Serija se također, iako nešto suptilnije, hvata u koštac s toksičnim maskulinitetom, odnosno muškom rodnom ulogom podrazumijeva toksične obrasce ponašanja kao što su upotreba alkohola i drugih psihoaktivnih supstanci, brze vožnje, kompetitivno ponašanje, tučnjave i seksualno napasno ponašanje, izrugujući i maltretirajući bilo koga tko se odbija uklopiti.

Upravo zato "13 Reasons Why" vrlo naglašeno u kontrast stavlja situacije koje uključuju pristanak s onima u kojima ga nema. Prikazuje nam koliko prirodno, pa čak i seksi, može djelovati izravno traženje pristanka prilikom upuštanja u seksualne radnje, unatoč pretpostavci da traženje i jasno izjavljivanje pristanka "ubija spontanost" ili na druge načine kvari trenutak. S druge strane, serija dočarava sve ono pogrešno u vezi seksualnog nasilja i suočava se s mnogo mitova iza kojih se druge serije nerijetko kukavički sakrivaju. Neki od tih mitova su onaj o nasilniku kao predatoru koji vreba žrtvu, a koji nije dio njezine svakodnevice ili netko koga ona idući dan sreće na školskom hodniku; zatim mit da se nasilje, ako ga se žrtva ne sjeća, nije ni dogodilo, kao i da išta osim jasnog i svjesnog pristanka služi kao opravdanje i dopuštenje za nasilje; mit o žrtvi koja je "to željela" samo zato što se nije branila ili pobjegla, kao i onaj da je u situaciji svjedočenja nasilju jednostavno konfrontirati nasilnika ili otići. Seksualno nasilje serija obrađuje posve izravno, bez uljepšavanja. Ne dopušta da ga minoriziramo, ne da nam da skrenemo pogled; dapače, prema riječima glavne glumice Katherine Langford, u jednoj od scena "kamera ostaje na njezinu licu dulje nego je to ugodno".

Primarni motiv serije, uz bullying i seksualno nasilje, je suicid. Iako Hannah na zvučnim zapisima zvuči cinično i odlučno, i iako neke njezine rečenice zvuče optužujuće, ona zapravo samo ukazuje na povezanost pretrpljenog nasilja - što psihičkog, što seksualnog - i oduzimanja vlastita života. Hannah se, iako bi se to moglo pomisliti na samom početku serije, ne osvećuje samoubojstvom niti "zagrobnim" obraćanjem koleg(ic)ama, ona nije bijesna ni uvrijeđena; ona jednostavno ne vidi izlaza iz svoje situacije, ne vidi budućnost i ne vidi dalje od "ovdje" i "sada". Ona, kao adolescentica, još uvijek nema kapaciteta pojmiti neku buduću sebe i shvatiti ono što bi gotovo svi odrasli voljeli da su u adolescenciji znali - da će ti osjećaji proći, da će biti barem malo bolje. Da ne znaju što će se iduće dogoditi, i da si samoubojstvom oduzimaju priliku da doznaju. Iako poseže i traži pomoć, nije joj pružena; iznevjerili su je upravo oni koji su trebali reagirati na prve znakove, koji nisu smjeli dopustiti da se stvori klima u kojoj tinejdžerica rezanje žila vidi kao jedini izlaz. Iako je reakcija traženja "krivca" za smrt djeteta sama po sebi razumljiva, način na koji roditelji Hannah Baker traže odgovornost škole i barem simbolično zadovoljenje pravde na sudu ima smisla, budući da za Hannahinu smrt nije kriv samo pojedinac, nije kriva samo jedna osoba ili grupa; kriv je sustav koji omogućava nasilnicima da prolaze nekažnjeno, koji dopušta mladim ljudima da ne preuzimaju odgovornost za vlastite postupke i koji štetna i rizična ponašanja smatra fazom razvoja i dijelom društvene uloge, a ne ozbiljnim maltretiranjem. Ipak, dio gledatelja ostao je ozbiljno zabrinut nad nekim porukama koje serija šalje, odnosno o tome kako bi tinejdžeri mogli doživjeti Hannahin čin. Naime, postoji bojazan da serija suicid prikazuje kao jednostavno rješenje, kao brz izlaz iz problema koji su tinejdžerima poznati i bliski, i koji im se doista čine nerješivima. Također, iako to očito nije namjera, serija prikazuje suicid, točnije, naraciju mrtve djevojke, kao ultimativnu osvetu. Hannah više puta izjavljuje kako želi da se njezina publika osjeća onako kako se i sama osjećala posljednjih nekoliko mjeseci života, traži od njih da zamišljaju i kroz njezinu naraciju proživljavaju situacije odbijanja, posramljivanja, zlostavljanja i nasilja. Taj je segment u seriji doista i problematičan. Ipak, kako uzrokovati promjenu svijesti bez osjećaja krivnje, osjećaja da je status quo itekako pogrešan, i promatranja sebe ujedno kao onoga/one tko perpetuira trenutno stanje ali i onoga/one tko je takvu dinamiku u stanju promijeniti. Hannah nam svojom pričom poručuje da u nasilju ne sudjeluju samo nasilnici, koji su ionako u manjini, nego i svatko tko pred nasiljem gura glavu u pijesak ili zatvara oči. Iako ideja da je svatko u nekoj mjeri odgovoran za njezinu smrt mračna i emocionalno teško probavljiva, upravo misao o vlastitoj odgovornosti može služiti kao motivacija da se nekome pruži ruka, da se nekoga pozove na kavu, da se o doživljenom nasilju i vlastitoj stigmi razgovara s osobom od povjerenja. Također, iako će nekima to biti jedan od težih zadataka u životu, izuzetno je važno da roditelji - ili starija braća i sestre, tete ili ujaci - ovu seriju pogledaju sa svojim adolescentima. Da budu tu kroz teške scene, da poruče "ja to mogu čuti i vidjeti", da ne osuđuju likove iz serije, dajući vlastitom djetetu priliku da izraze emocije te da bez srama i straha podijeli i najcrnje misli. Jedno "a što ti misliš o tome?" ili "a kako se to tebi čini?" može otvoriti vrata i tamo gdje se činilo da su zaključana. Naime, upravo koliko pogubna ova serija može biti za tinejdžera koji osjeća da mu svijet sjedi na prsima i fantazira kako se tom "svijetu" što brutalnije osvetiti, tražeći istovremeno izlaz iz naizgled bezizlazne situacije - toliko ona, uz pravu podršku, uz prava pitanja i kvalitetan razgovor, može biti osvješćujuća i ljekovita.

Ono što ova serija ne nudi, ipak, jest closure. Onaj osjećaj završene, zaokružene priče. Nema hepienda, nema zadovoljstva, nema, konačno, ni pravde. Jer nakon samoubojstva doista nema pravde, i nema zadovoljštine, ma tko na koncu bio proglašen krivim. Gledatelji/-ce ostaju s osjećajem nelagode i neizvjesnosti i s vrlo jasnom replikom na svako "da je barem": ali nije. Zato je serija toliko teška i mučna. Zato što nema mogućnosti da se išta, barem u nekoj imaginarnoj neprikazanoj budućnosti, popravi za Hannah. Ne postoji ništa što se umjesto epiloga može odviti, da vrati taj život. S druge strane, prikazuje nam toliko toga što se moglo. Uči gledatelj(ic)e što sve i sami mogu zateknu li se u sličnim pozicijama i dobiju li ikada priliku zakotrljati makar i jednu snježnu grudu, ili joj pak stati na put dok još nije prerasla u lavinu.

Teen serije se, kao i probleme s kojima se tinejdžeri suočavaju, percipira banalnima. Kroz stereotipne i često pojednostavljene ulogama "nabildanog mangupa", "omiljenog sportaša", "povučenog štrebera", "popularne navijačice", "cvikeraša iz šahovskog kluba", "lake cure" i sl. tinejdžerske serije umanjuju i normaliziraju vršnjačko nasilje, trivijaliziraju često toksičnu dinamiku u školama te čak predstavljaju zlostavljačke odnose kao komičan moment. Guranje u ormariće, razbijanje naočala, posramljivanje, neželjeni seksualni komentari - to su prikazi kojima scenaristi i redatelji pribjegavaju kada nastoje dočarati "tipičnu" američku srednju školu, uopće ne pridajući takvom ponašanju značaj koji može imati niti ga nazivajući pravim imenom. Nakon "13 Reasons Why" takve scene i takvi pokretači radnje gledatelji(ca)ma neće biti smiješni. Neće moći a da se ne zapitaju što kada kap prelije čašu, kada se na društvenoj mreži objavi jedna fotografija previše, kada trač-partija postane noćna mora ili kada nasilnik pomisli da i drugi put može proći nekažnjeno jer mu "kompići" čuvaju leđa. "13 Reasons Why" uništila nam je svaku buduću stereotipnu teen seriju. Jer, iako Clayev otac u razgovoru sa sinom kaže "Mrzio sam srednju školu. Bio sam meta, u više navrata. Ali preživio sam. I vidi me sad!", i Clayu i gledatelji(ca) je jasno da ne prežive svi. Hannah Baker nije.
*Ovaj tekst sufinanciran je sredstvima Fonda za poticanje pluralizma i raznovrsnosti elektroničkih medija.

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Nakon gledanja '13 Reasons Why' ne može se smijati teen serijama - Sa stavom - Libela

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13 Reasons Why" serija je koja će vam pokvariti doživljaj svake teen serije koju ste pogledali i svake koju ćete ikada vidjeti. I dobro je da je tako. Srednjoškolka Hannah Baker, prije nego što si oduzme život, ostavlja zvučni zapis svoje priče. Priče koju će čuti upravo oni koji su doprinijeli njezinom tragičnom svršetku.

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In the study of psychology, many advances have been made on the understanding of mental illness, especially in the causes of depression and suicidal thoughts. many scientists would argue that "suicide is not a simple variable that can be correlated directly with another single feature of society." (Langone 71) This statement is very true. However, psychologists have been able to discover some of the factors that tie into the cause. The disorder can be the result of many factors in one's life, for example, intrusive thoughts such as "You're not good enough," or "You're not smart enough." (Henick), the idea of one wrong view or touch is enough to turn a normal and healthy self-study into a person's self-identity into a serious trauma (Jakovljevic), or even a childhood trauma. Many factors contribute to this state of mind. In many cases, you can't even tell if the person is depressed or suicidal. " He did not show any of the signs of depression." ( Abuja Times). Many think that it is a fad that teens are following just because they saw someone else do it. Most young suicide attempters report recent personal contact with another suicidal teen. (Langone 68) This could also be considered one of the factors of the development of the mood disorders.

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The topic of suicide is a hard one to discuss. The believe that the normalization of suicide in the american society is not uncommon. Inf fact, the number of suicides among children and young adults has increased 40% since 2002 (Hubbard). Teenage suicide rates have also increased among the U.S., peaking at 85 out of 100,000 children and teens. Many people have started foundations and apps and websites that try to prevent the numbers from increasing anymore. Even the people of social media, such as Facebook, are researching to build algorithms to learn which words and emojis are associated with suicidal thoughts (Ruiz). But it takes more to understand the complexity of what is really going on for these children and teens. They are experiencing what is known as Mood disorders. Characterized by emotional extremes and challenges in regulating mood ( they tend to be long-term disturbances). And these disorders -specifically depression- are more complex than just feeling sad. Everyone experiences sadness, depression is a physiological as well as a psychological illness. It messes with your sleep, and appetite, and energy, and your neurotransmitter levels, all inter fearing with the way your body runs itself (Crash Course).

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Fahrenheit 451 shows a society that normalizes suicide but this isn't far from the truth of 21st Century America. The people of this generation are very aware. They have things like social media and the internet in general, but they are still in the dark about things sometimes. They share their feelings and their ideas on these sites,but what is also being shared is people's sad and depressive thoughts. They talk about wanting to kill themselves and that brings on may things like discomfort, humor, relatability, these things go hand in hand when we talk about the big scary s-word: suicide. As you scroll through social media and hear conversations between people, you realize that suicide is something people are actually joking about and people are actually laughing about (Liberti). The people of the 21st century have made suicide a casual topic and something to tease about. But how can we blame them, I mean if you weren't educated properly, how are you supposed to know what to do, what to say, how to feel? (Liberti) The view of suicide has certainly changed over the years. For centuries, suicide was considered an act against God, a violation of law and a stain on the community. (Dokoupil) .But it has become too common. The word suicide isn't scary anymore, if anything, it's become a joke.

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This video is a Ted Talk that looks into the mind of a depressed person and explains why some people choose suicide as an escape.

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Why we need to talk about suicide | Mark Henick | TEDxToronto

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This video is a Ted Talk on how depression and suicidal thoughts are handled by a person who suffers from them.

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On living with depression and suicidal feelings | Sami Moukaddem | TEDxLAU

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This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. "By the end of this talk, 24 people would have committed suicide worldwide." - Sami Moukaddem. What are the misconceptions we have regarding depression and suicide? And what can we do to help those suffering around us?

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This video explains the meaning of mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder.

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Depressive and Bipolar Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #30

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You can directly support Crash Course at http://www.subbable.com/crashcourse Subscribe for as little as $0 to keep up with everything we're doing. Also, if you can afford to pay a little every month, it really helps us to continue producing great content. *** Not sleeping for days on end. Long periods of euphoria.

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This video discussed how Suicide and depression have become normalized/ a joke in the 21st century

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Casually Suicidal | Sarah Liberti | TEDxAdelphiUniversity

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The character Clarisse McClellan is another important character to this story. She is described as someone who is “crazy” and “abnormal” (Bradbury 5&27). Clarisse represents the voice of the past and awareness of the world. She always talks about how she is scared of the kids her age and how she asks if “it always used to be this way?” (Bradbury 27). Her uncle also tells her stories of the past and how kids “didn’t kill each other” in the past. (Bradbury 27). Her character brings to light all the change that has happened over the years in the world of  Fahrenheit 451 and how the present is very bad. She notices that the future was impacted by things like technology and mental illness and this caused humans to become antisocial and numb to the world. The future becomes so robotic that her happiness is seen as wrong and her attention to the little things, like nature and the way people behave, makes her seem different. Bradbury wrote Clarisse as a little spark of awareness of the present. Her character brings Montag into the realization as well. Clarisse impacts Montag’s future and inspired him to break out of the system and make changes to the future. Her words ignite a change that ultimately caused a bomb to explode and destroy the future, allowing Montag and the professors to start the society all over again.

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Society's Normalization of Mental Illness and Suicide

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Society's Normalization of Mental Illness and Suicide

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In Bradbury’s book, he also noted that the people of the society are severed from their surroundings. He writes about how the people of the society are often rushed and about how they aren’t social with each other. They are always rushing and stressed. The character Clarisse states that people are so brainwashed and robotic that when a person like her notices and observes the world, she is seen as a freak. She says is best by sharing what she observed about people, how “ they run themselves ragged by the end of the day we can’t do anything but go to bed or head for a Fun Park to bully people around, break window panes in the Window Smasher place or wreck cars in the Car Wrecker place with the big steel ball.” (Bradbury 27). This state of being is so common among the people, that mental illness- specifically depression and suicidal tendencies- are a normal thing. As Clarisse also states, the society is so dull that people are numb and that in order to feel anything, people “go out in the cars and race on the streets, trying to see how close you can get to lampposts, playing ‘chicken’ and ‘knock hubcaps.’ (Bradbury 27). Bradbury’s prediction of mental illness becoming normalized was very accurate. Mental illnesses are sprinkled all throughout Bradbury’s writing and in the 21st century, it is also a normal thing to have some sort of mental illness.

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Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, is typically seen as a commentary on reading in society, but he also addresses the epidemic of suicide and mental illness as well.  The character Mildred is written as the representation of depression in his society.  Mildred seems very detached from her surroundings and is very reliant on her technology.  Her TV and “the family” inside of it are just one example. Her Seashell is another example as she uses it to tune out everything. They symbolize distraction from her mental state, where “every night the waves came in and bore her off on their great tides of sound.” (Bradbury 10). Mildred is a depiction of the society’s emotional being as well. Mildred attempted suicide in the first few pages of the book,which in this world, seems to be common. After her revival, the operators state that “We get these cases 9 or 10 times a night.”(Bradbury 13). Through Mildred, Bradbury shows how normal suicide and depression are in this society. This is a parallel with today’s society as depression and suicide are commonplace in the 21st century. Bradbury’s writing brings light to the subject and provides an accurate depiction of American society in the 21st century.

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Annabel Ennis                                                                                                                                               Mrs. Jenkins                                                                                                                                             English 10-8                                                                                                                                                  April 19, 2018                                                 Thesis Claim

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Annabel Ennis                                                                                                                                               Mrs. Jenkins                                                                                                                                             English 10-8                                                                                                                                                  April 19, 2018                                                 Thesis Claim

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In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury depicts mental illness--specifically depression and the resulting suicide-- as a normalized behavior in current American society and, as current research shows, the message is accurate as suicide is becoming a generational epidemic.