IS SUGGESTION A CAUSE OF SUICIDE?

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 64, 16 March 1911, Page 3

IS SUGGESTION A CAUSE OF SUICIDE?

' ' . ' ■ —■ —' ■ --. •- ■•',! Shortly before the last annual meeting of the Newspaper Propriejtors 1 Association of New Zealand a letter wais received from Dr. Alex- > ander; superintendent of a New Zea- i land mental hospital, dealing "with the , above subject. The letter wias sub- ; mitted to the editors of■ the principal papers of the Dominion, and their opinions were , read at the meeting held at tjiieetstown last month. Some of the editors' letters possess more than ordinary interest, and are quoted! bolow, together with Dr. Alexanders communication:— DR. ALEXANDER'S LETTER AND EXTRACT. Ashburii Hall, Dunedin, N.Z., 14th December, 1910. To the Edit6r of the* Otagb Daily Times, Dunedin. ' Dear Sir,— - .. . , ; , ~" ~-.,. v I would be greatly obliged to you if you would bring the appended cutting under the notice of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. .I: am ■certain that thosevp'f us who hav©;tq deal more especially with mental oases can beat out what the writer of /the- paragraph stated as to the influence of suggestion on cases of potential Suicides. We make it a pr^acti<J« : here to cut out of the daily paperd»aH' cases of suicide' before they are, s3nt in to the' patients,' knowing i>he evil that' may result from their reading the details of such oases. To emphasise the point raised, I may mention that; every now and again somebody; would throw themselves off tho Deaii Bridge, in EdinburlghV and no sooner were* the details published' tha^n a "crop of 'similar sui«idea would follow.. Another instance of suggestion that came to my notice was the case of a small party of patients, amongst whom, was one recent case, who suddenly pushed away from the party and jumped over a cliff. As soon as the other patients realised what had happened, they, like the Gtaderene herd of swine, endeavored to follow suit, and were only saved by the united efforts of attend' ants. . . ■ , I may say that this letter is not for publication, but you are welcome to forward it, with tho excerpt; to the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. ,1 remain, x Yours faithfully. E. H. ALEXANDER. [Extract from Sharland's New Zealand Journal, September 7, % 1910.]