Copycat Suicides Topic of SoCal and SF Media as New Year Begins

The Los Angeles Times starts 2005 with a long examination of two youth suicides at the Pacific High School. The article comments:

"Copycat suicides in the United States are not uncommon, especially among teens and young adults imitating friends or acquaintances who have killed themselves. Researchers have found that every year in the United States, between 100 and 200 teenagers die in these 'suicide clusters.'"

Also, in the San Francisco area, according to an alert sent our way by correspondent Bufo Calvin, broadcast media are discussing a local suicide cluster. This new attention follows an earlier article on November 9, 2004, in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Clayton Valley High School suicides.

That article begins:

"The rumors started to fly around Clayton Valley High School in the third week of October. A former student committed suicide on Tuesday, Oct. 5. Exactly one week later, another girl, a freshman, killed herself...Exactly a week later, on the third Tuesday in October, a recent Clayton Valley graduate attempted suicide. By the time a recent grad at College Park, over in Pleasant Hill, killed herself on Oct. 26 -- another Tuesday -- Clayton Valley was in a frenzy."

These are two situations that may flare into full-scale suicide clusters, especially as the California media seem ready to fan the flames of the whole "wildfire" angle.