Recent attention focused on the relationship between bullying and suicide is positive and helpful because it:
1. Raises awareness about the serious harm that bullying does to all youth involved in bullying in any way.
2. Highlights the significant risk for our most vulnerable youth (e.g. youth with disabilities, youth with
learning differences, LGBTQ youth).
3. Encourages conversation about the problem of bullying and suicide and promotes collaboration
around prevention locally and nationally.
However, framing the discussion of the issue as bullying being a single, direct cause of suicide is not helpful
and is potentially harmful because it could:
1. Perpetuate the false notion that suicide is a natural response to being bullied which has the dangerous
potential to normalize the response and thus create copycat behavior among youth.
2. Encourage sensationalized reporting and contradicts the Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide
(http://reportingonsuicide.org) potentially encouraging copycat behavior that could lead to “suicide
contagion.”
3. Focus the response on blame and punishment which misdirects the attention from getting the needed
support and treatment to those who are bullied as well as those who bully others.
4. Take attention away from other important risk factors for suicidal behavior that need to be addressed
(e.g. substance abuse, mental illnesses, problems coping with disease/disability, family dysfunction, etc.)