At the risk of talking about suicude and increasing it's potency, the OP is talking about the cluster that occured before 2015 in the Palo Alto area [0]. The linked article is unfortunately paywalled (for me at least). Other clusters have occured since then. Though I cannot find the citation, I remember reading an article that stated that suicide is considered contagious, in that it seems to look just like any other contagious disease. That article further mentioned that suicude in the social media age is much more virulent, I think by ~2000% more contagious.
Recently, in Colorado Springs, CO, a teen suicide cluster was allowed to fester for a number of years in the evangelical community. The coroner, respecting the religious wishes of the bereaved, listed the teen suicudes not as suicides per se, and these victims were not included in official stats. The religious community believed that death was not the end and that the victims would live on in heaven. The victim would be lionized and become the 'most popular kid in school' for a while. Finally, the memorialization of the victims was wide spread via social media and the religious community, and was also very public with lots of people attending funerals. The combination of these factors allowed the suicide rate to spike 4900% there [1,2].
Though stress is undoubtably a trigger for suicide, it seems that suicide is very complicated and individual, despite the cluster nature of it. More research has been helpful in preventing this horrible 'disease' from spreading further, and awareness of the issue is being increasingly taught to our youth.
If anyone reading this is feeling suicidal, please reach out! In addition to the hotlines (1-800-273-8255), I would like to personally help you. Let me know a good email address and we can talk offline. I really, honestly, do want to help you.
Recently, in Colorado Springs, CO, a teen suicide cluster was allowed to fester for a number of years in the evangelical community. The coroner, respecting the religious wishes of the bereaved, listed the teen suicudes not as suicides per se, and these victims were not included in official stats. The religious community believed that death was not the end and that the victims would live on in heaven. The victim would be lionized and become the 'most popular kid in school' for a while. Finally, the memorialization of the victims was wide spread via social media and the religious community, and was also very public with lots of people attending funerals. The combination of these factors allowed the suicide rate to spike 4900% there [1,2].
Though stress is undoubtably a trigger for suicide, it seems that suicide is very complicated and individual, despite the cluster nature of it. More research has been helpful in preventing this horrible 'disease' from spreading further, and awareness of the issue is being increasingly taught to our youth.
If anyone reading this is feeling suicidal, please reach out! In addition to the hotlines (1-800-273-8255), I would like to personally help you. Let me know a good email address and we can talk offline. I really, honestly, do want to help you.
[0] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-sil...
[1] https://www.newsweek.com/2016/10/28/teen-suicide-contagious-...
[2] https://gazette.com/education/teen-suicides-spike-in-el-paso...