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Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz’s suicide highlights need for rigorous intervention

'The Internet's Own Boy' filmmaker Brian Knappenberger and activist and friend of Aaron Swartz, Cory Doctorow, share what they hope Aaron's untimely death will help shed light on for others.

The death of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz by his own hand rocked his family and friends, but it also surprised a vast online community.

Swartz was widely recognized as a brilliant young man who made a significant contribution to shaping the Internet we use today. He also led the charge in the campaign to stop the heavy-handed Stop Online Privacy Act. If you were online on January 18, 2012, you might remember the coordinated blackout on Wikipedia, Google and other websites that joined in on the protest.

But he also suffered in silence. Facing stiff criminal penalties that included potentially decades of jail time and up to $1 million in fines if found guilty for downloading a vast number of files from a not-for-profit, shared digital library service, Swartz was weighed down by the possibility of losing his case.

But Swartz's story is not unique. Nearly 4,000 Canadians commit suicide every year, according to the Mental Health Commission of Canada. To help combat this, the federally-funded organization this week launched a prevention program encouraging members of Parliament to become engaged in the issue.

"Every time a Canadian takes his or her own life, we, as a society, are failing," said Louise Bradley, MHCC President and CEO. "Saving a life really can begin with something as simple as a conversation. If we commit to having this conversation, lives can -- and will -- be saved. "

Swartz's friend Cory Doctorow, author and prominent blogger, agrees with that sentiment.

"I hope one of the consequences of Aaron's passing is we pursue more vigorous intervention in the lives of our friends. I've taken the lives of my friends more seriously and not assumed that because there is a steady stream of normal-seeming [social media] updates that I can assume everything is okay."

On the surface, there is an odd contradiction to Swartz's story. Despite his visibility on the causes he was passionate about, the international media interviews he did and the writing he put out for the public to read, he didn't leave behind a note that might help people understand his struggle and the decision behind his action.

Brian Knappenberger, director of the documentary "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz," who got to know those close to Aaron over the course of filming, says the problems aren't always easy to identify.

"It's striking to me that he [Aaron] was actively being quiet about it, like he didn't want to anger the prosecutors. And it was the impulse to Aaron to not bring his friends into it, not to implicate [them]. And of course isolation like that looks fine on the Twitter check-ins, but that kind of isolation is the worst possible thing you could be going through if you're going through troubles."

For the first piece in our series, see: How to tell if it's the blues or something more
For the second piece in our series, see: This simple breathing trick can help treat and prevent depression
For the third piece in our series, see: Is your child depressed? 3 signs parents should watch for

For the fourth piece in our series, see: Why are more women diagnosed with depression than men?
For the fifth piece in our series, see: Brain food: Natural ways to boost your mood