Can elaborate funerals and a lack of counselling lead young people to see suicide as a path to 'a better place', asks Shane Hegarty

The term "copycat suicide" might be a familiar one, but less attention is paid to how it can follow the death of a friend, just as it can that of a rock star. Six per cent of suicides are "copycat" ones. The recent spate of suicides in the Ardoyne area of Belfast was triggered by paramilitary violence, but the sudden decision by several young men to end their lives in a similar way within days and weeks of each other underlined what many believe to be the "contagious" nature of suicide.

"It's hard to prove and there are better statistics on this in the United States, but there does tend to be a cluster," according to Dr John Connolly, of the Irish Association of Suicidology (IAS). "In close communities or in schools where there has been one, we find that there may be a rash of suicides."

Because most evidence is anecdotal, figures are not readily available; however, one study claimed that immediately after the suicide of a parent, it is seven times more likely that one of their children will attempt suicide. We also know that copycat suicides are most likely to occur among adolescents and the elderly, "the two groups least integrated into society", as Dr Connolly explains.

Those who are suffering from stress or anxiety often look for direction from the actions of others around them. If exposed to a suicide, they may see this as an option. Media guidelines have made a difference to the reporting of suicide in recent years, although the IAS believes that the tabloid press, especially, still doesn't appreciate the consequences of sensationalised reporting. However, towns and families at the centre of a tragedy do not have a guiding set of rules to turn to at those moments.

This problem has particularly worried Father David Keating. As chaplain at Waterford Institute of Technology and a volunteer suicide bereavement counsellor, he is concerned that the immediate outpouring of grief following a suicide can inadvertently send out the wrong signal to someone who feels that they may receive more attention if they were to die too.

"I think it becomes easier for a person to believe that they will be loved when they die, particularly where a friend, neighbour or colleague dies by suicide," he says. "I've been at suicide funerals where I think it's just overwhelming what's going on, particularly where the person is being spoken about by all sorts of different people - by family, by clergy, by relatives, neighbours - and none of that would have been spoken prior to the person's death, but is spoken afterwards.

"We're not a very tactile people by nature, yet at suicide funerals you see a lot of people being very tactile towards one another. There are these kind, memorable sentiments. And I think that can leave a lasting impression on a person."

The funeral Mass, he says, can often treat the suicide like any other death, with the priest perhaps speaking of the deceased as having gone to a better place and so sometimes "glorifying" a death.

"I've been at funerals where clergy certainly missed the point," he says. "Sometimes they focus on the acceptance of the choice the person has made and they're now living a much better life in heaven and so on. That focus on the 'hereafter' rather than the 'here' can have a dreadful effect on people listening. I think that this life is the one that matters. And this is the one that all those young people need reasons for living for, not reasons for dying."

Keating also believes that both a family and a community with no post- suicide counselling can be open to further tragedy. "It's widely accepted that incidence of at least having a suicide attempt is higher in a family that's had a suicide - and part of the reason for that is because there's little attention given to what's happening in that family afterwards," he says. "A mother's relationship with her husband changes. It changes with her daughter, with her son. Siblings change towards each other. And words need to be put on that and it needs to be named. There is sometimes too much pressure in wanting to get back to normal, and that all happens too fast. It is not good to help only an individual person following a suicide death; it has to be a family approach. And in a town, there needs to be a group-of-friends approach or a community approach, because all relations have changed."

Rev Dr Tony Byrne, along with Sister Kathleen Maguire, runs courses on Facing Up To Suicide and he always recommends that, following a suicide, families make a pact promising that none of them will themselves contemplate doing the same without first talking to their family. It has proven, he says, an effective approach and one that is applicable in a community or group of friends.

"The more they talk about it, the better the possibility that there will be no further tragedy," says Dr Byrne. "It is so important that they talk about it and discuss it. In the past there was a culture of silence. You have to remember suicide was only decriminalised in 1993, so until then people found it very difficult to talk about it openly."

He commends the Department of Education for having counselling services now, ready to go into schools when necessary.

Dr Byrne's courses also help to guide clergy through the difficulties of dealing with suicide. From a position where, until the 1960s, those who died by suicide were refused a Church burial, priests are now sometimes expected to treat suicide as if it is any other death. Dr Byrne points out, though, that this is not a problem exclusive to the Catholic Church, and his course has been attended by clergy from other faiths also struggling with the issue.

With the funeral as the focal point of a community's grief, the message being sent out is in danger of being a mixed one. A huge congregation or a concelebrated Mass can sometimes make that death seem more special. The offertory procession might include personal items belonging to the deceased and may also inadvertently add lustre to the death.

"The canonisation of the deceased is a bad thing," insists Dr Byrne. "It is wrong if you say that this person never hurt anyone, because it has been shown that they have hurt a minimum of 50 people, who feel shame, blame, loss and grief. The liturgy should only be for the grieving and the survivors, not for the coffin. It's important to be careful with the message."

He suggests that priests talk with families first to see if they want the suicide mentioned and to understand that it is right for them to acknowledge that they don't know what to say, rather than look for simple answers or pious homilies. They should be non-judgmental and certainly never suggest that the suicide was the result of a lack of faith.

"It is a huge problem for any pastor," he says. "They are in terrible agony as they try to prepare to bury a suicide, and must walk a tightrope."

How a suicide should be talked about is a constant source of debate. There are those who still fear that even talking about suicide can lead to an increased incidence. Suicide rates are generally lower in those countries in which it is still taboo, even given that the true figures may be hidden.

"We're of the opinion that if it comes up then it should be discussed openly," says Dr Byrne. "Children should be told the truth, although not all at once. It should be gradual and it should let them know that there are other options and that suicide is not an easy way out."

There is widespread concern about the fact that suicide is more accepted among adolescents than in the past, that many do not understand the finality of their actions.

"An increasing number of young people now view death by suicide as just one way of dying," says Father Keating. "There appears to be an acceptance of the choice of dying by suicide. I think all of us see a greater prevalence in music and film of suicide as an appropriate response to unhappiness. And that justleads to more suicide idealisation in young people."

Father Keating believes education is key. "But we're addressing the late teenagers, young adults," he says. "I think that we need to go back earlier to the early teenage years. That's the age when there needs to be a real engagement with meaning and building their reasons for living and how living works. Young teenagers need to be given a chance to build an inner strength, to see what they have around them and to be able to critique what is going on. If that happens then they will develop something to be passionate about. That's what keeps people alive."

Strides have been made by both volunteer groups and the Government to address the issue. Counselling services are now more readily available for families, schools and communities. However, progress will be slow and copycat suicide is a small proportion of the overall suicide figures. There are many factors behind the high number of suicides, including increased alcohol consumption, stress and depression. Suicide rates peaked in 1998, when Ireland led the world in rates of male suicide, but around 450 people in the Republic have died by suicide each year since.

"Every suicide is an individual thing," says Dr Connolly of the IAS. "There are no easy answers."

For information on the Facing Up To Suicide course, contact Rev Dr Tony Byrne or Sister Kathleen Maguire (tel: 01-8380157) or write to 3 Cabra Grove, Dublin 7

The Irish Association of Suicidology can be contacted at 094-9042084