SPCGC wouldn't normally post something about such a horrific idea, however, we also want people to be aware. There is an online challenge, The Blue Whale Game. It is believed to have started in Russia and is a 50 day set of tasks that see an escalation in violence, culminating in the participant dying by suicide. It has been linked to two deaths in the US, but many others around the globe. Authorities say that it came to the US around late February with a spike in searches in May.
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In the March 2017 issue of the American Journal of Public Health an article by Drs. Jennifer Brennan Braden, Mark J. Edlund, and Mark D. Sullivan was published looking at the trends around suicides where opioid poisoning was listed as a contributing factor from 1999 - 2014. They found that the age-adjusted rate increased from 0.3 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 0.7 per 100,000 population in 2009 and has stayed consistent until 2014.
The researchers also found that there was an increase of opioid poisoning as contributing factor in suicide deaths from 2.2% of all suicides in 1999 to 4.4% of all suicides in 2010. Opioid poisoning as means of suicide have doubled since 1999. The authors conclude that health care providers should be made aware, and should assess the suicidality of the patients they care for who are prescribed opioids. |
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