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EDITORIAL: Mental health and social media

The Patriot Ledger - 6/27/2017

June 27--The conviction of Michelle Carter on Friday of involuntary manslaughter attracted the world's attention. If only the attention of the masses were turned to the prevention of suicide. Instead, we are swamped by the all-too-willing rush to the spectacle of tragedy and the novelty of this case ostensibly centered around the misuse of social media.

Judge Lawrence Moniz found Carter guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a Taunton bench trial, and is expected to hand down her sentence in August. He ruled that Carter was responsible for encouraging her boyfriend to get back into the cab of his carbon monoxide-filled pickup truck and complete his act of suicide.

Moniz found Carter culpable in the tragic string of events once she told her boyfriend to get back into the poisonous air; she knew police and family were within reach to help save his life but did not call for help.

The judge's verdict was unavoidable under the law.

The public's interest in the moral aspect of the case, that is, Carter's inability to heed the universal moral imperative to preserve life under the mysterious and confounding influence of social media. The public has responded through social media with a voice that is predictably loud and varied, and disturbingly ironic.

The deterioration or obfuscation of Carter's sense of humanity that contributed to the suicide death of Conrad Roy III should not be seen solely as a consequence of her familiarity with and use of social media. Despite the fatal outcome, the history of text messages shared between the two troubled youths may well have been seen by them both as a lifeline.

Those with impulses toward suicide and self-harm cannot be assumed to be easily persuaded of the glory of life celebrated by the vast majority of those around us. Many define their experience in ways that confuse their loved ones, making it difficult to empathize, and then to help effectively.

Folks who work in suicide prevention have said that when the well-meaning person asks someone if they have thoughts of harming themselves, the person with suicidal thoughts considers themselves to be already in pain. Self-harm may be seen as relief. The apparent success of others to navigate the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" can signal yet another failure for the person who feels outcast and alone. For them, there is no escape from pain.

Michelle Carter's failure to alert anyone who could have helped the troubled Roy passes the test of culpability Moniz saw in the timeline. Her sentence should be based on more than her last texts and subsequent inaction, however.

Even though the two youths had spent very little time in each other's company, they justifiably considered their relationship to be most intimate, having discussed their mental health and their life and death decisions over an extended period. We will not attempt to discern what she may have thought, but her bond with Roy cannot simply be seen as that of provocateur, or social media manipulator. She surely understood Roy's pain. Only 17 at the time, Carter was poorly equipped to be Roy's savior, himself only 18.

Our collective mental health is challenged in this always-on world of social and mass media expectations. Many hearts are broken for the tragedy that has befallen the Roys and the Carters. Let us trust the courts to bring this sad case to its conclusion. In the meantime, let us fight for better mental health screening, treatment and reimbursement, and for better understanding of those who suffer so deeply.

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