Suicide, you'd be a lot cooler if you did

Suicide and depression, they seem to go hand in hand, that is, at least in our culture. However, a case study in Micronesia will give you a new perspective on why some global populations may get hit harder than others with waves of suicides. Before the 1960's suicide in Micronesia was virtually unheard of. Unfortunately, as described by Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point, it became the cool thing to do and turned into a storm of suicides in the young male population. Was it from depression or delirium? The answer...neither. It all started with a boy named Sima who committed suicide just after getting yelled at by his father. From that point there have been hundreds of young male suicides over things so trivial as "a brother being obnoxiously loud." Much of this influx has to do with cultural norms. Some say that this trend in Micronesia follows patterns of imitation as a result of the theory of the tipping point, yet others believe it is a cultural form of rebelion and self expression (comparable to United States teens smoking underage). Gladwell states the practice of suicide in Micronesia has turned into a form of youthful experimentation, woops.