[Air-l] Japanese suicide reference

[Jerald Block]

Regarding Japanese suicide attempts and computers...two references that may 
help:

Alao AO, et. al. Cybersuicide: Review On the Role of the Internet on 
Suicide.Cyberpsych Behav. 2006:9;489-493.  General review, not specific to 
Japan

Hikikomori - a Japanese mental illness that often leads to suicide attempts 
and is related to computer use.  Tamaki Saito is the Japanese expert on 
this.

If you want help, I'd be glad to lend a hand.

Jerald Block, MD
Board-certified Psychiatrist
jblock at aracnet.com
503-241-4882

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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:31:09 -0800 (PST)
From: Christopher Helland <c_hella at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Air-l] Information about online suicide pacts
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Message-ID: <20070116233109.69146.qmail at web52308.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ascii

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any studies or ongoing research concerning 
online suicide pacts in Japan.  The suicide rate in
Japan is almost 20 times higher than their murder rate (one of the highest 
in the world)--and there appears to be "a frightening
increase in the number of group suicides arranged over
the Internet through chat rooms dedicated to discussing suicide."

Any help researching this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Chris Helland

Christopher Helland, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Sociology of Religion
Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Dalhousie University
6135 University Avenue, Rm. 1128
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
B3H 4P9
Tel: (902) 494-6757 Fax:(902) 494-2897
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~chelland/index.html