Suicide in music subcultures

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Suicide in music subcultures refers to the relationship between members of a subculture of music fans and the act of suicide. Researchers have examined the relationship between heavy metal subculture, [1] goth subculture, [2] emo subculture, [3] and opera subculture [4] and suicide.

Goth subculture

A study published on the British Medical Journal concluded that "identification as belonging to the Goth subculture [at some point in their lives] was the best predictor of self harm and attempted suicide [among young teens]", and that it was most possibly due to a selection mechanism (persons that wanted to harm themselves later identified as goths, thus raising the percentage of those persons who identify as goths). [5] According to The Guardian, some goth teens are at more likely to harm themselves or attempt suicide. A medical journal study of 1,300 Scottish schoolchildren until their teen years found that 53% of the goth teens had attempted to harm themselves and 47% had attempted suicide. The study found that the "correlation was stronger than any other predictor." [6] The study was based on a sample of 15 teenagers who identified as goths, of which 8 had self-harmed by any method, 7 had self-harmed by cutting, scratching or scoring, and 7 had attempted suicide. [7] [8] [9]

The authors held that most self-harm by teens was done before joining the subculture, and that joining the subculture would actually protect them and help them deal with distress in their lives. [8] [9] The authors insisted on the study being based on small numbers and on the need of replication to confirm the results. [8] [9] The study was criticized for using only a small sample of goth teens and not taking into account other influences and differences between types of goths ; by taking a study from a larger number of people. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goth subculture</span> Contemporary subculture

Goth is a music-based subculture that began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s. It was developed by fans of gothic rock, an offshoot of the post-punk music genre. Post-punk artists who presaged the gothic rock genre and helped develop and shape the subculture include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, the Cure, and Joy Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copycat suicide</span> Emulation of another suicide

A copycat suicide is defined as an emulation of another suicide that the person attempting suicide knows about either from local knowledge or due to accounts or depictions of the original suicide on television and in other media. The publicized suicide serves as a trigger, in the absence of protective factors, for the next suicide by a susceptible or suggestible person. This is referred to as suicide contagion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-harm</span> Intentional injury to ones body

Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury, and self-mutilation have been used for any self-harming behavior regardless of suicidal intent. Common forms of self-harm include damaging the skin with a sharp object or by scratching, hitting, or burning. The exact bounds of self-harm are imprecise, but generally exclude tissue damage that occurs as an unintended side-effect of eating disorders or substance abuse, as well as societally acceptable body modification such as tattoos and piercings.

Folk devil is a person or group of people who are portrayed in folklore or the media as outsiders and deviant, and who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems; see also: scapegoat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Healy (psychiatrist)</span> Irish-born pharmacologist

David HealyFRCPsych, a professor of psychiatry at Bangor University in the United Kingdom, is a psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, scientist and author. His main areas of research are the contribution of antidepressants to suicide, conflict of interest between pharmaceutical companies and academic medicine, and the history of pharmacology. Healy has written more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, 200 other articles, and 20 books, including The Antidepressant Era, The Creation of Psychopharmacology, The Psychopharmacologists Volumes 1–3, Let Them Eat Prozac and Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide methods</span> Means by which a person dies by suicide

A suicide method is any means by which a person may choose to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a non-fatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, and brain damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framingham Heart Study</span> Cardiovascular cohort study

The Framingham Heart Study is a long-term, ongoing cardiovascular cohort study of residents of the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. The study began in 1948 with 5,209 adult subjects from Framingham, and is now on its third generation of participants. Prior to the study almost nothing was known about the epidemiology of hypertensive or arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Much of the now-common knowledge concerning heart disease, such as the effects of diet, exercise, and common medications such as aspirin, is based on this longitudinal study. It is a project of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in collaboration with Boston University. Various health professionals from the hospitals and universities of Greater Boston staff the project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disease mongering</span>

Disease mongering is a pejorative term for the practice of widening the diagnostic boundaries of illnesses and aggressively promoting their public awareness in order to expand the markets for treatment.

Overdiagnosis is the diagnosis of disease that will never cause symptoms or death during a patient's ordinarily expected lifetime and thus presents no practical threat regardless of being pathologic. Overdiagnosis is a side effect of screening for early forms of disease. Although screening saves lives in some cases, in others it may turn people into patients unnecessarily and may lead to treatments that do no good and perhaps do harm. Given the tremendous variability that is normal in biology, it is inherent that the more one screens, the more incidental findings will generally be found. For a large percentage of them, the most appropriate medical response is to recognize them as something that does not require intervention; but determining which action a particular finding warrants can be very difficult, whether because the differential diagnosis is uncertain or because the risk ratio is uncertain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicidal ideation</span> Thoughts, ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of ending ones life

Suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, is the thought process of having ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of ending one's own life. It is not a diagnosis but is a symptom of some mental disorders, use of certain psychoactive drugs, and can also occur in response to adverse life events without the presence of a mental disorder.

Mental distress or psychological distress encompasses the symptoms and experiences of a person's internal life that are commonly held to be troubling, confusing or out of the ordinary. Mental distress can potentially lead to a change of behavior, affect a person's emotions in a negative way, and affect their relationships with the people around them.

Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Youth suicide attempts are more common among girls, but adolescent males are the ones who usually carry out suicide. Suicide rates in youths have nearly tripled between the 1960s and 1980s. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide</span> Intentional act of causing ones own death

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse are risk factors. Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, relationship problems, or harassment and bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance abuse; careful media reporting about suicide; and improving economic conditions. Although crisis hotlines are common resources, their effectiveness has not been well studied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millennium Cohort Study (United States)</span>

The Millennium Cohort Study is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study headquartered at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California and designed to evaluate any long-term health effects of military service, including deployments. It is the largest population-based prospective health project in US military history, currently collecting data on over 200,000 enrolled participants. Investigators that conduct the Millennium Cohort Study include uniformed and non-uniformed scientists from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Veterans Affairs and academic institutions.

Researchers study Social media and suicide to find if a correlation exists between the two. Some research has shown that there may be a correlation.

Bullying in the medical profession is common, particularly of student or trainee physicians. It is thought that this is at least in part an outcome of conservative traditional hierarchical structures and teaching methods in the medical profession which may result in a bullying cycle.

The relationship between antidepressant use and suicide risk is a subject of medical research and has faced varying levels of debate. This problem was thought to be serious enough to warrant intervention by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to label greater likelihood of suicide as a risk of using antidepressants. Some studies have shown that the use of certain antidepressants correlate with an increased risk of suicide in some patients relative to other antidepressants. However, these conclusions have faced considerable scrutiny and disagreement: A multinational European study indicated that antidepressants decrease risk of suicide at the population level, and other reviews of antidepressant use claim that there is not enough data to indicate antidepressant use increases risk of suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide in the military</span> Suicide risks in the armed forces

Suicide in the military is the act of ending one's life during or after a career in the armed forces.

Ann John, FLSW is a Professor in Public Health and Psychiatry at the Swansea University Medical School. She chairs the National Advisory Group to Welsh Government on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. She is an honorary consultant in Public Health medicine for Public Health Wales and Trustee of the Mental Health Foundation. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

James Purdon Martin (1893–1984) was a British neurologist.

References

  1. Stack, S; Gundlach, J; Reeves, JL (1994). "The heavy metal subculture and suicide". Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 24 (1): 15–23. doi:10.1111/j.1943-278X.1994.tb00659.x. PMID   8203005. S2CID   27120844.
  2. Young, R. (2006). "Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study". BMJ. 332 (7549): 1058–1061. doi:10.1136/bmj.38790.495544.7C. ISSN   0959-8138. PMC   1458563 . PMID   16613936.
  3. Definis-Gojanović, M; Gugić, D; Sutlović, D (December 2009). "Suicide and Emo youth subculture--a case analysis". Collegium Antropologicum. 33 (Suppl 2): 173–5. PMID   20120408.
  4. Stack, Steven (2002). "Opera Subculture and Suicide for Honor". Death Studies. 26 (5): 431–437. doi:10.1080/07481180290086763. ISSN   0748-1187. PMID   12046619. S2CID   46253511.
  5. Young, Robert; Sweeting, Helen; West, Patrick (13 April 2006). "Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study". BMJ. 332 (7549): 1058–1061. doi:10.1136/bmj.38790.495544.7C. PMC   1458563 . PMID   16613936 . Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  6. Polly Curtis and John Carvel. "Teen goths more prone to suicide, study shows." The Guardian, Friday 14 April 2006
  7. Robert Young; Helen Sweeting; Patrick West (4 May 2006). "Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study". British Medical Journal . 332 (7549): 1058–1061. doi:10.1136/bmj.38790.495544.7C. PMC   1458563 . PMID   16613936.
  8. 1 2 3 Gaia Vince (14 April 2006). "Goth subculture may protect vulnerable children". New Scientist . Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  9. 1 2 3 "Goths 'more likely to self-harm'". BBC . 13 April 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  10. Sources: This most likely meant that, according to the survey, there was more of a stereotype towards goths that they did practice self-harming. Some would argue that it is a very unfair stereotype to place upon goths, as the vast majority of the goth subculture is against even the thought of practicing self-harm and is strongly against it.