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Raj Persaud in conversation - the podcasts


Sep 11, 2014

Dr Raj Persaud in conversation with Kenny Johnstone about the extraordinary experiences that led to Kenny setting up CLASP

 

FROM THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRIST'S WEBSITE

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/discoverpsychiatry/podcasts/kennyjohnston-suicideand.aspx

Kenny Johnston, Founder of the Counselling, Life Advice and Suicide Prevention charity, CLASP, talks to Dr Raj Persaud about how he set up the organisation after he twice tried, but failed, to take his own life.

Kenny Johnston is 43 and from west London. Having witness domestic abuse, racism, mental illness and a variety of stress-related experiences in his life, many could assume his suicide attempt in October 2010 was due to a build-up of tragic life experiences.

Kenny studied to become a CBT and Suicide Intervention Counsellor in order to help those living with their life traumas and daily trying to overcome the stigma which surrounds mental and stress related illness as well as suicidal thoughts to seek help and feel able and empowered to discuss their emotions and thoughts openly in order to resolve them, see a positive future and save a life.

 

"I truly believe that, if 50-60 years ago there was a stigma over black and white couples and now there's mixed races children including me; 20-30 years ago we had a stigma about Gay and Lesbians because of HIV and Aids, now there's same sex marriages; then isn’t it time to end the stigma about mental and stress related illness as well as suicide, because the longer it’s there the more lives will be lost"

Kenny Johnston

Founder and CEO, CLASP Charity

 

After the Robin William’s tragedy – will there be copycats?

 

Raj Persaud and Professor Sir Simon Wessely (President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists)

 

 

Robert Enke, a very famous German football goal keeper, killed himself on the railway on 10th November 2009.

 

 

 

The number of railway suicidal acts, in the following two weeks, more than doubled in Germany.

 

 

 

The study which uncovered this is entitled ‘One followed by many?—Long-term effects of a celebrity suicide on the number of suicidal acts on the German railway net’, and is recently published in the ‘Journal of Affective Disorders’. There was also an increase of railway suicides of 19% in the following two years, as compared to the two years before this tragic event.

 

 

 

The authors of the study,Ulrich Hegerl, Nicole Koburger, Christine Rummel-Kluge, Christian Gravert, Martin Walden and Roland Mergl, found the 25% increase of fatal railway suicides between 2007 and 2010 was significantly greater than the 6% increase in the total number of suicides in Germany over the same period.

 

 

 

The authors based at the University of Leipzig, and Deutsche Bahn AG (the German Railway Company), conclude that Enke’s suicide probably led to copycat suicidal behaviour on the railways.

 

 

 

 

 

The authors point out that the media attention of the footballer’s suicide was exceptional and enduring, and this may have had an impact. For example, television broadcasts of a public mourning ceremony, held in the team’s stadium, were viewed by almost 7 million German viewers.

 

 

 

30 railway suicidal acts occurred in the two-week interval before Encke’s suicide, 71 railway suicidal acts in the two week interval following this event; an increase of 137%.

 

 

 

But what is more ominous is that this research found an elevated long-term ‘attractiveness’ of railway suicidal acts after Enke’s suicide.

 

 

 

The authors conclude that their findings are a strong argument for improving media coverage of suicides, and community suicide preventive programs.

 

 

 

A study entitled ‘To What Extent Does the Reporting Behavior of the Media Regarding a Celebrity Suicide Influence Subsequent Suicides in South Korea?’, just published in the journal ‘Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior’, investigated the world record copycat effect thus far. This was the suicide of the Asian star actress Choi Jin-shil; starring in 18 films, she has been described as South Korea’s equivalent of Julia Roberts .

 

 

 

The authors, Jesuk Lee, Weon-Young Lee, Jang-Sun Hwang and Steve Stack, found her death on 2 October 2008 was subsequently associated with 429 additional suicides in South Korea, which is a record copycat effect.

 

 

 

Another recent investigation entitled, ‘Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicide: a meta-analysis’, examined 10 studies from around the world, probing for similar copycat effects, examining 98 suicides by celebrities.

 

 

 

The team of authors, led by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler,  King-wa Fu, Paul Yip, Daniel Fong, Steven Stack, Qijin Cheng and Jane Pirkis, report a change in suicide rates of on average roughly almost three suicides per 1000 000 population, in the month after a celebrity suicide across the world.

 

 

 

Extrapolating from these figures, the worse case scenario would be an additional almost 200 suicides over the next month, in the UK, with approaching 1000 in the USA. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but these non-celebrity suicides are unlikely to make the headlines.

 

 

 

 

 

The study, published in the ‘Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health’, report suicides by an ‘entertainment celebrity’, across the planet, had the greatest impact of all in Europe, in terms of copycat incidents, followed by a slightly smaller impact in the USA.

 

 

 

The authors based at the Universities of Vienna, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Wayne State, found a particular celebrity impact on copycat behaviour by entertainment celebrities, as opposed to other prominent people, such as politicians.

 

 

 

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and co-authors argue the suicide of an entertainment celebrity is so influential perhaps because of audience identification.

 

 

 

Celebrities are revered and may therefore act as particularly strong role models even when it comes to taking their own lives.

 

 

 

Guidelines for media reporting of suicide include that detailed discussion of the particular method should be avoided, and as images of the death scene are highly influential, these should not be broadcast. For details see http://www.samaritans.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/files/press/Samaritans%20Media%20Guidelines%202013%20UK.pdf. These and similar links may be of special interest for journalists reporting about suicides

 

 

 

But by writing this article are we ourselves violating the media guidelines? Not so, we contend, because the recommendations do not say there should be no media reporting, but that it should be sober and responsible.

 

 

 

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler points out that not all celebrity suicide reporting is associated with increases in suicides subsequently. This is exemplified by the suicide of Rock Star Kurt Cobain. His suicide was widely reported, but there was no copycat phenomenon afterwards, Dr Thomas Niederkrotenthaler maintains.

 

 

 

This may be due to Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, expressing both her sadness and anger about her far too early loss, in the media, and contacts to support services were published, along with her statements, immediately after his suicide. Indeed, research showed that these mental health services experienced an increase in clients, but there was no upsurge in suicides.

 

 

 

Perhaps the celebrity obsession of the media is in fact a reflection of a deeper problem with journalism, of which suicide reporting is merely a symptom. Reporting of celebrities lives in general tends to remain somewhat naïve. Being rich and famous, according to the classic simplistic media analysis, inoculates against any serious psychological problems.

 

 

 

In a study entitled ‘Psychological strains found in the suicides of 72 celebrities’, the tensions experienced throughout the lives of 72 celebrities were systematically investigated.

 

 

 

The authors, Jie Zhang, Jiandan Tan and David Lester found of 72 ‘celebrity’ suicides, only one had no ‘strains’ at all.

 

 

 

 

 

The authors, from Shandong University School of Public Health and Central University of Finance and Economics, China, and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, USA, found the most common pressure was ‘aspiration strain’ – found in 97% of the lives of celebrities who kill themselves.

 

 

 

‘Aspiration strain’ was defined in this study, published in the ‘Journal  of Affective Disorders’, as a gap between an individual’s aspiration and the reality of their life. For example, wishing to be much richer than you actually are.

 

 

 

The study found 30 celebrities who killed themselves suffered at least two contrasting life strains, while 36 had endured three different ‘strains’.

 

 

 

Perhaps the take home message should be that despairing sadness may happen to anyone, irrespective of fame or wealth.

 

 

 

But what many people still do not know is that depression, and also other mental health problems, including personal crises, can be treated, and that there is help available.

 

 

 

That should be the headline story.

 

 

 

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article you may find the following of help: Samaritans Helpline: 08457 90 90 90 http://www.samaritans.org

 

 

http://rajpersaud.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/after-the-robin-williams-tragedy-will-there-by-copycats-raj-persaud-and-professor-sir-simon-wessely-president-of-the-royal-college-of-psychiatrists/

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dr-Raj-Persaud-Latest-Users/dp/B0082XNF40