Media influence on suicide

Abstract

EDITOR-The alarming escalation of charcoal burning suicide in Hong Kong supports Hawton and Williams's call for guidelines on the reporting of suicide.1 We previously reported on the emergence of this new method of suicide in Hong Kong.2In November 1998 a 35 year old woman committed suicide by burning charcoal in a barbeque grill in her sealed and cramped apartment.Compared with jumping, which accounts for most local suicide deaths, suicide by burning charcoal was romanticised as an easy and comfortable way of dying.The incident was pictorially reported in the media.Two months after its appearance charcoal burning became the third commonest method of suicide in Hong Kong, where carbon monoxide poisoning was previously uncommon.2In 2001 it replaced hanging as the second commonest method of suicide, accounting for 25% of all deaths from suicide.People committing suicide by charcoal burning were often middle aged and were portrayed as debt