Police Psychology:  Suicide Challenges

by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP

It’s just an image on a App.  They used a Japanese doll artist’s rendition of a horror figure, a girl that supposedly killed herself and is apparently haunting those who live.  Ah, who knows.  What is more important is she contacts young persons on the internet and asks them to download her.   Then she gives them instructions over the course of their interactions trying to gain information about them, or their parents, or do a variety of dangerous self-harm tasks, she makes bullying threats, shames them, then talks them into killing themselves.  It’s called the “MOMO SUICIDE CHALLENGE.”  Mostly ‘tweens and young teenagers play with her online.  My 11-year old knows about it.  Her friends do.  Most parents do not.  Many cops do not, YET!

The Blue Whale Hoax started in Russia.  It was the same sort of thing, a person interrupts you from Facebook or some other App and asks you to join them by giving them your phone number or by connecting as friends.  Then they slowly give you directions, Blue Whale had over 50 posts fed to you once a day, ending in asking you to kill yourself.  People have tied this to suicides around the world, but no one has evidence of a direct causal element.  Asking pre-teen kids to kill themselves – does it get any sicker than this? (more…)