Suicide, the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC), has been in the news several times in the last year due to suicide “clusters” at Cornell University and in California and Pennsylvania. A suicide cluster is defined by the CDC as “a group of suicides or suicide attempts, or both, that occur closer together in time and space than would normally be expected in a given community.” 1 “Suicide contagion” or “copycat” suicides is the behavior that leads to clusters of suicides. The idea that suicide clusters occur as a result of a contagious type of behavior has not been established through studies, but suggested by anecdotal evidence and statistical analysis. These seem to indicate that suicides occurring later in a cluster appear to have been influenced by suicides earlier in the cluster.

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