
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994                   TAG: 9404140337
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Boston Globe
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SUICIDE CENTERS ON ALERT

The suicide of grunge-rock star Kurt Cobain, whose songs spoke of the hopelessness and despair of youth, has heightened the fears of suicide-prevention officials already on alert during the suicide-prone months of March and April.

``There is great concern in the field that others may emulate Kurt Cobain - contagion is something that everyone who works in suicidology is very concerned about,'' says Margaret O'Neil, executive director of the Boston office of the Samaritans, a national suicide-prevention organization.

O'Neil said her office handles an average of 6,000 calls a month on its 24-hour emergency line, but in the spring the number of calls increases by 25 percent. ``There hasn't been a dramatic increase in the numbers of calls since Cobain's death, but a lot of those who do call, particularly on the teen line, talk about him,'' O'Neil says.

The 27-year-old Cobain, one of whose recent songs was called ``I Hate Myself and Want to Die,'' communicated the feelings of hopelessness and lack of self-identity common to many of his generation, O'Neil says.

Many fans of Cobain and his pace-setting band, Nirvana, were shocked that someone seemingly so successful and admired would take his own life. But suicide is a matter of private pain, O'Neil says, not public perception. ``He had made it big but didn't feel good about himself, and that's what suicide is all about,'' she says. ``He had everything but self-worth.''

Since Cobain's death, one fan, a 28-year-old Seattle man, has committed suicide, apparently in part because of despondency over the rock star's death. The man, who reportedly also had a drinking problem and other stress in his life, killed himself with a shotgun, as did Cobain.

The message that those in the suicide-prevention field want to get out to the desperate and the vulnerable, O'Neil says, ``is that suicide is an option but not one that you have to exercise. Suicidal crises are usually short-lived and will go away.''

Suicide experts have yet to conclude why suicide rates rise each spring (there is also a rise in suicides in the fall), but they have plenty of theories.

Says Dr. Mark Teicher, director of the biopsychiatry program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.: ``Suicides peak in spring, probably as a consequence of winter, when people can become very depressed because they are forced to be inside a lot and can't get away or benefit from the healthiness that comes with being outside.''

Teicher believes that seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - depression triggered by seasonal light changes - also may play a role in suicide. Estimates are that 35 million Americans suffer from SAD, which can deepen existing depression and intensify suicidal feelings.

by CNB