Case study of posts before and after a suicide on a Swedishinternet forum

Websites and discussion forums have become an important and sometimescontroversial source of information on suicide. Using a case report, our aimwas to examine the responses, attitudes and beliefs that were communicatedon a forum before, during and after a suicide act. We undertook two relatedanalyses: a qualitative investigation of the messages that were postedbefore the suicide and a combined qualitative–quantitative analysis of themessages posted during and after the suicide. Nearly half the postedmessages before the suicide encouraged the victim to complete the suicidalact, and a surprising number of posts after the suicide expressedexcitement, although around half of the posts considered the suicide to betragic. It is of great importance to increase awareness of suicide signalsand understanding about how to respond to individuals who communicatesuicide intentions on different forums on the internet.