What Can We Learn About It?

An internationally known suicide prevention researcher visited the Stanford University School of Medicine on Monday to share her work on how social media can be used to prevent suicide, offering insight into alternative avenues for addressing teen mental health concerns.

Jo Robinson, head of suicide prevention research at Orygen Youth Health in Melbourne, Australia, spearheaded two recent studies on transforming social media – a world often "demonized" as a potential contributor to suicide contagion – into a therapeutic tool to provide services and connect and empower teens. Both studies were launched in response to teen suicide clusters in Melbourne, she said.

"Social media gets demonized quite a lot when it comes to suicide," Robinson said Monday, speaking to a small audience in a classroom at Stanford's Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge. In the wake of suicides, online memorial pages, photos and comments often spring up and can glorify the incident in a way that is thought to contribute to a contagion.

"One of the things that's kind of informed the work that we're doing is that we thought, 'Well, yes, that's all potentially true and we have to be concerned about that but actually, social media is not going anywhere and young people actually prefer using social media than seeing professionals like me,'" Robinson said. "So how can we actually engage in a positive and constructive way with social media to work with young people and provide a service to them?"

Robinson described how Internet-based treatment has become an increasingly popular way to deliver health programs across the board, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a method considered one of the most effective ways to treat adolescents with depression, anxiety or suicidal ideation.

Robinson stressed that any online program shouldn't replace face-to-face treatment, but can be a beneficial "adjunct" treatment for teenagers in particular.

Source: paloaltoonline

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