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INTEREST: Report Linking Russian Suicides with Anime Criticized

Olga Mahovskaya, a youth psychology specialist, commented in the article that "anime by itself cannot be the cause of teenage suicides." However, she asserted that because anime blurs the line between the real world and "virtual culture" and "romanticizes death," anime viewing could contribute to teenagers' decisions to end their lives.

"I've never seen anime like that!" *Insert facepalm image here.* These people were living under a rock, right?

Did anyone else think of Suicide Club, or whatever the devil it's called, when they were reading this? Okay sure it's live-action, not anime, and barely heard around the world, but still.

Japan's relatively high rate of youth suicides spurred the Japanese government to begin publishing an annual "Suicide Counter-Measure White Paper" in 2007.

It is a known fact that teenagers feel more secure if they belong to a certain group. After in-depth study of numerous cases of teenage suicides Japanese scientists and psychologists decided to use this instrument in the shaping of the psychic of a growing kid. Cheerleading like nothing else builds team spirit among teenagers, allows them to feel friendly support, teaches leadership skills, optimism and successfulness. It is no accident that over 3 million Japanese teenagers are engaged in cheerleading, and it is an obligatory subject in the Japanese secondary school curriculum. After the visit of the Japanese delegation to Saint Petersburg active rise of cheerleading began here.

My condolences to these children, their families and friends.

Many people around the world still don't seem to understand that depression and mental illness are real, deadly diseases, rather than "being lazy" or "lack of motivation" or just plain "crazy." The amount of willful ignorance about suicide, even among so-called mental health professionals and doctors is disturbing. Although their have been studies showing that exposing young children to extremely violent or sexual situations via television, movies, even the news can cause PTSD symptoms that reflect children who face real violence and abuse in their lives, mental illnesses are generally not caused by watching too much TV or playing violent video games.

There are a variety of chemical, genetic, sociological and other complicated factors that can aggravate mental illnesses in children. People do not wake up one day deciding to kill themselves, and there are so many ways to help kids who are vulnerable to suicide.

Were there any sudden mood changes? Were they seeking help? Were proper medications made available to them?

I can't believe a doctor, of all people, would spread even more ignorance and blame about a serious illness.

i don't know what the mental health system is like in Russia, but the fact that anyone is trying to oversimplify a disease by blaming anime is disturbing.