Suicide pacts carried out among young people who meet via the Internet are occurring frequently. A chain reaction seems to be at work, as attested by the common use of rentan charcoal stoves in sealed-up cars. It is reasonable to assume they imitated earlier cases reported by the media.

Many people experience despair from time to time. On occasion, people wish they were dead. But some people feel very strongly that they want to die, or more frequently than others. But as people interact in society, they accomodate such feelings and try to keep going.

The Internet, on the other hand, allows people to isolate themselves. They can withhold their identity and speak freely about suicide, which is considered taboo in most circles.

Families and friends rarely understand the feelings of people who are so desperate they would rather die. Under such circumstances, those who have lost hope tend to think the only people who understand them are complete strangers who share the same sense of despair.

It is a big misunderstanding to think people who want to commit suicide do so without consulting others and those who seek help don't really want to die in the first place.

A deep sense of isolation, coupled with the feeling that no one understands them, underlies the psychology of people who turn to so-called suicide bulletin boards on the Internet to seek company in suicide pacts. The underlying message is that they want to be with someone and desperately want others to recognize the deep pain that makes them want to die.

That is where we may find clues to prevent suicidal behavior. If such people meet others who understand their sufferings, they may overcome their impulse to kill themselves. For the last three decades, volunteers at Inochi-no Denwa (a 24-hour telephone counseling service) have devoted themselves to listening to people talk about personal problems.

There are some things that people can only say over the telephone because they can't see the person on the other end. Suicides can be prevented with proper support. By the very nature of the Internet, on which anyone is free to express themselves, it is impossible to completely regulate sites that provide suicide-related information. We should improve Internet content so society can support Web sites that discourage and help prevent suicidal behavior instead of encouraging it.

Web sites that are currently blamed for triggering suicide pacts are run by individuals. In many cases, the operators themselves have a hidden impulse to kill themselves. They want to come in contact with others who share the same feelings and believe they are not alone. Reading the entries, I see many cases that suggest people who give vent to their bottled-up pain find solace because they feel others understand them. However, one false step could turn the sites into a service to arrange suicide pacts between strangers. They are too dangerous.

What is needed to prevent Internet-suicide pacts are safe forums where people can fully express their true feelings and turn despair into hope. For that, well-meaning mediation by people who understand suicidal psychology and the characteristics of Net communication are needed.

Such services can be provided by public organizations with experts or private ones supported by volunteers.

In Britain, the Samaritans started an Internet service to help the suicidal, depressed and distressed in 1994. Although it is not directly aimed at preventing suicides, in Japan, too, such organizations as NHK and the Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs of the Tokyo metropolitan government are offering Internet counseling for people who withdraw from family, school and friends.

Personally, I have also been providing counseling on the Internet since 1997 and supervising the Tokyo government's Web site.

Most Internet-suicide pacts are carried out by young people because most computer users are young. But less than 50 people a year kill themselves that way.

With so few cases, it is meaningless to point out the immaturity and problematic behavior of young people today. Suicide cases among older people far outnumber those among the younger generation. Suicides have increased in Japan in recent years.

Now more than 30,000 people commit suicide in Japan each year.

We must not view suicide as a ``special problem that only affects psychologically weak people.'' It is a tragedy that can happen to anyone.

Suicide prevention is a problem that must be tackled by society as a whole.

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The author is a psychiatrist and an associate professor at Tokyo Gakugei University. He contributed this comment to The Asahi Shimbun.(IHT/Asahi: January 11,2005)