Samaritans, the charity that helps people experiencing mental health crises, has a number of extremely detailed and useful guides on its website for people writing about the topic of suicide. One thing these guides advise is that any discussion of suicide should be preceded by a warning - so, please, consider yourself warned. Besides that courtesy to the reader, the number one instruction is: do not mention the method used. Why such caution? The Samaritans website quotes Professor Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford: 'There is abundant international evidence that media... portrayal of suicide can be extremely influential. Poor media practice can cause further loss of life, especially in more vulnerable groups such as the young and people with mental health problems.' Suicide begins as a stubborn and insidious idea, that can spread and be influenced by others. If the reporting of a celebrity's death at their own hand includes the method, others turn to that method. This can lead to a vicious cycle, one with grim implications for architecture. In January, the Vessel observation tower at New York's Hudson Yards was temporarily closed after a person jumped to their death from an upper level. This was the third such incident at the basket-shaped structure, designed by Studio Heatherwick, and the site owner is consulting with experts over possible modifications to the attraction.
展开▼
