A string of recent suicides at Michigan State University has left some psychiatrists worried that a fatal trend of copycat behavior may be developing. Five MSU students have taken their own lives since January.
Annie Delories Sloan, associate dean of students at the University, said depressed students are sometimes motivated to end their lives after their peers commit suicide.
"Sometimes we do have copycat behavior where they read or hear something in the media, and they decide, 'This is a good way for me,'" Sloan said.
Fathima Syed, an MSU senior in the School of Natural Sciences, said she doesn't believe the suicides were directly linked, but that they may have influenced each other.
"It is a big coincidence that they happened so close together," Syed said. "It's an incentive, but I don't think the deaths were linked - it was individual choice."
Sloan said the last time she remembered a University student committing suicide occurred off campus during the 1995-96 academic year. Sloan said the recent deaths of MSU students raises the issue of despairing University students following suit, especially with finals coming up.
"It's a concern any time you lose a student, whether it's at our University or any other university, especially when they have so much of their life ahead of them and they decide their situation is hopeless," Sloan said.
University psychology Prof. Chris Peterson said he has noticed similar trends in the past, and that the continuation of such trends can be viewed as following enticing examples to escape personal problems.
"You do periodically hear about this, and I think the interpretation is pretty straightforward," Peterson said. "For a person who is depressed, to see other people in the vicinity taking their lives, it legitimizes it. There are pockets of this - this is not unprecedented."
Peterson said suicide rates among youth have risen in recent years, but are still low when compared with those of elderly men, who have the highest suicide rates. Depression is the primary cause of suicide and alcohol is frequently involved, Peterson said.
While suicides are usually perceived as resulting from severe individual problems, some psychiatrists believe societal influences such as Dr. Kevorkian's trail of assisted suicides and the recent Heaven's Gate ritual deaths may encourage people to take their lives.
But Sloan said it's unlikely that such events incite students to commit suicide.
"It could have a little to do with it, but we've had suicides long before Dr. Kevorkian and Heaven's Gate," Sloan said.
Sloan encouraged students to seek counseling at the University if they are having trouble coping with academic or social problems.
"I want our students to know that with finals coming up that we're here for them and that we're not judgmental," Sloan said.
Students who want to discuss problems with counselors or psychologists can go to Counseling and Psychological Services, the University's free Psychological Clinic, or call the University's 24-hour personal guidance hotline at 764-GUID.