The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh hosts Emory University's Dr. Chiako Ozawa-de Silva and her lecture "Seeking Healing Through Internet Suicide Websites? Existential Suffering and Lack of Meaning Among Japanese Youth" on April 10. A summary from the Asian Studies Center website:
Suicide has become a major public health concern in Japan over the past decade due to extremely elevated suicide rates since 1998. Discourse in Japan on suicide prevention has nevertheless focused almost exclusively on the state of the Japanese economy and levels of mental illness, neglecting the subjective experience of suicidal individuals and the roles that meaning and positive mental health play in suicide and its prevention. Increasing evidence suggests that a lack of positive mental health may be more important than the presence of mental illness in predicting future suicide attempts, and also that treatment of mental illness alone may not address the lack of psychological and social well-being (including meaning or purpose in life, loneliness, and existential suffering) implicated in suicidality. Since positive mental health and subjective well-being involve meaning-making processes and social relationships that are heavily influenced by cultural factors and may vary widely cross-culturally, there is great scope for local ethnographic studies to contribute to our knowledge of factors conducive to positive mental health and potentially preventative for suicide.The lecture is at 4:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map), and is free and open to the public.