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What can be more painful to a parent than losing a child to suicide? The problem of cyberbullying was brought to national attention several years ago by the passing of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who committed suicide subsequent to cyberbullying by Lori Drew, the mother of another girl. Despite years of public campaigns and passage of Read more
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In the past few years a handful of children have deliberately taken their own lives, including one under 9. Kirsty Johnston reports on the unthinkable truth of pre-teen suicide. Krystal was 12 when she killed herself. The Auckland foster child had just had a violent argument with her 7-year-old sister over pocket money and both Read more
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Almost 63 per cent of New Zealanders support proposed law changes that would allow ill people to end their lives, a new poll shows. Last week’s results came a day after after Auckland man Evans Mott, 61, was discharged without conviction for assisting his wife to commit suicide. Labour MP Maryan Street has drafted a Read more
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More than 500 people committed suicide in New Zealand in 2010. The report, called Suicide Facts, showed the suicide rate was 23.6 per cent below the peak rate in 1998. A Ministry of Health report released today showed there were also 2825 intentional self-harm hospitalisations, which included attempted suicides. Hanging, strangulation and suffocation were the Read more
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On Monday my friend Carl died – under the wheels of a train. He would not have meant to disrupt the lives of rush-hour commuters. Nor would he have wanted to cause distress to the train crew. Perhaps from the “other side” he will let me apologise on his behalf. Sorry. Perhaps it’s ironic that, Read more
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In recent times two films, Another Earth and Melancholia, have given sensitive treatment to the subjects of depression and suicide. As well, Nothing Prepared Me For This, has been published. It is a book that brings together the writings of a number of relations and friends of people who have committed suicide. In a recent Read more
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Pacific parents need encouragement to acknowledge and listen to teenagers by negotiating which traditions best support their wellbeing, says a Samoan sociologist. Fiva Faalau, who graduated with a PhD from Massey University’s Albany campus last week, says while her study of 45 Samoan teenagers revealed diverse family structures and parenting styles, some parents need to Read more
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Religion may play a role in determining whether someone will take their own life, suggests new research that shows suicide rates are higher in Protestant countries than in Catholic ones. Researchers from the University of Warwick in England analyzed data from Prussia in the 19th and 21st centuries, as well as modern data from the Read more
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The number of elderly New Zealanders killing themselves has surged 11% to a 10-year high, fuelled by mounting health and economic worries. The spate of deaths has pushed the country’s overall suicide numbers to 558, the highest since 1997. The issue has reopened the debate on euthanasia. A spokeswoman for the New Zealand Voluntary Euthanasia organisation Read more
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Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell’s comments by about the treatment of suicide victims, for which he has since apologised, have their roots in Christian tradition. However, those traditions have changed in the recent past and are not common in the 21st century. The parish priest of St Michael’s in Rotorua, Mark Field, said he could understand Read more
