Suicide on the Internet: a focus for nursing intervention?

Abstract

The Internet is a means for people who do not know each other to share information to their mutual benefit or harm. Whereas electronic communication without censorship has its benefits, the net has not escaped the attention of people contemplating suicide. If mental health nurses are to assist vulnerable people who surf the net in search of encouragement to complete suicide, they need to know about Internet resources on suicide and to understand how suicide fatalities influence the behaviours of vulnerable people who express suicidal ideation in cyberspace. The importance of suicide modelling, ambivalence, group death wishes, suicide notes and related research is considered. Mental health nurses are invited to consider the implications for suicide prevention.