Surprised no one has posted this yet.

[evil_admiral]

I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't been posted here yet (although I'm sure ya'll have seen it already through the media outlets): Suicide linked to webcastI think its because I'm closer to this poor guy's age than I am a middle-schooler, but it really hit me what happened to him. It's sad that he couldn't get the support he needed, but I don't

Comments

[fabfemmeboy]

I don't know why he didn't turn to a mental health professional if he felt this way.

Because when you're actually depressed, going to see a pshrink tends to make it worse for quite awhile before it gets better. And because in this guy's case, he was already more than embarrassed enough and certainly not going to go talk to someone.

[keito_f]

I agree. I can easily see why he would have felt so embarrassed and overwhelmed that he would feel that there was nothing left for him and it would never get better.

Now I actually believe it would have been hard but gotten better over time, but it is not easy to see that when you are so depressed and combine that with embarrassment and a sense of isolation, plus that sense of violation of his privacy, at a particularly intimate moment, and I could easily see how he would feel he could not trust anyone and was not safe from bullying anywhere

[subluxate]

I definitely agree. When you're beaten down and depressed enough to actually do something about it, turning to anyone else for help feels pointless. And then add on that he was being bullied, so it probably felt like no one would help him, even if they could?

I just wish there was some way manslaughter charges could be brought against his bastard of a roommate.

[tisoi]

I mentioned it in a comment on tko_ak's entry.

Also, he asked for advice about what to do in a forum. http://www.justusboys.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320377

The owners of the site reported it to police, I believe. They confirmed the account was accessed from a Rutgers IP.

[redstar826]

but I don't know why he didn't turn to a mental health professional if he felt this way.

Maybe he thought he couldn't be helped. Or maybe he thought that it wasn't worth it because he was so humiliated by what happened and so terrified about what the reaction to the webcasts would be.

[tko_ak]

Well, someone posted it in the comments, but yeah.

It's sad, but an overreaction. I mean, by its very nature suicide is an overreaction (barring perhaps medical issues), but it's just so strange of a situation that I don't even know where to start.

[redstar826]

Well, we really don't know much about him or his mental health history. There could have been other stuff building up inside of him and this was just the final straw.

[keito_f]

The "prankster" could certainly have felt that he'd have something to gain, he might have thought he would be popular and that his video would be a hit. Add to that there has been at least one study showing that the pleasure center in the brains of bullies activate when they hurt someone.