Posts about Suicide and Self-harm

It saddens us greatly to see members of our community hurting. However, based on medical research, we have a policy of removing any and all posts that mention suicide, self-harm and other such behavior.

Instead, we at Glow reach out to them privately to offer help and resources.

The reason we delete such posts is two-fold:

1. We want to protect the poster from any unsupportive replies. (I know this would never happen here, but in other communities, I have seen comments such as "Just do it! Kill yourself already!")

2. Suicide/self-harm are catching. Social evidence has shown that suicide serves as a model, in the absence of protective factors, for the next suicide. This is referred to as suicide contagion. They occasionally spread through a school system, through a community, or in terms of a celebrity suicide wave, nationally. If you see a post about suicide or self-harm please report it immediately.

Thank you very much.

The Glow Team

Here is an article about Suicide Contagion in case anyone wants to learn more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/upshot/the-science-behind-suicide-contagion.html?_r=0