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Selected review
N° 85
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Internet
pathways in suicidality: a review of the
evidence.
Durkee T, Hadlaczky G,
Westerlund M, Carli V.
The
National Swedish Prevention of Suicide and Mental
Ill-Health (NASP), Department of Public Health
Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm,
Sweden.
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The general aim of this study was to review the
scientific literature concerning the Internet and
suicidality and to examine the different pathways
by which suicidal risks and prevention efforts are
facilitated through the Internet. An online
literature search was conducted using the MEDLINE
and Google Scholar databases. The main themes that
were investigated included pathological Internet
use and suicidality, pro-suicide websites, suicide
pacts on the Internet, and suicide prevention via
the Internet. Articles were screened based on the
titles and abstracts reporting on the themes of
interest. Thereafter, articles were selected based
on scientific relevance of the study, and included
for full text assessment. The results illustrated
that specific Internet pathways increased the risk
for suicidal behaviours, particularly in
adolescents and young people. Several studies found
significant correlations between pathological
Internet use and suicidal ideation and non-suicidal
self-injury. Pro-suicide websites and online
suicide pacts were observed as high-risk factors
for facilitating suicidal behaviours, particularly
among isolated and susceptible individuals.
Conversely, the evidence also showed that the
Internet could be an effective tool for suicide
prevention, especially for socially-isolated and
vulnerable individuals, who might otherwise be
unreachable. It is this paradox that accentuates
the need for further research in this field.
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Reference:
Durkee
T, Hadlaczky G, Westerlund M, Carli V. Internet
pathways in suicidality: a review of the evidence.
Int J Environ Res Public Health.
2011;8:3938-3952.
Full
free text available
Author's
e-mail:
vladimir.carli@ki.se
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Added
December 2011
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