If you can't restrict access to the means of CTB, the only viable suicide prevention tactics targeting a method is demonizing it in the eyes of those who might consider it. If many forum accounts systematically repeat that drowning is a horrible method, this is supposed to establish some negative associations in the minds of users having a lack of critical mindset.
This is true. I remember reading a study about near death experiences and drowning. Almost all people experienced nothing horrible. No "horrible" burning lungs, no torture, nothing. Just peace. It was shocking to read it, it forced me to see that drowning can be so peaceful. Unfortunately, even AI writes that drowning is horrible. If I find a link to that study or remember where I found it, I will share it
Update 1: I think I found it:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8928428/
UPDATE 2. Edited link. I finally found it
I fail to see what makes it more "terrible" compared to any other way of dying from this video. I observe a child crying, everyone else around panicking, and no traces of the drowned woman after she submerged. All I can conclude from the presented recording is that death makes some people very unhappy, and nothing special about drowning as a particular cause of death.
It's worth noting that drowning is one of the most accessible and lethal CTB methods, so I have some guesses about where all this widespread anti-drowning propaganda comes from. If you can't restrict access to the means of CTB, the only viable suicide prevention tactics targeting a method is demonizing it in the eyes of those who might consider it. If many forum accounts systematically repeat that drowning is a horrible method, this is supposed to establish some negative associations in the minds of users having a lack of critical mindset. Likewise, the only purpose of the dramatic video with a crying child and panicking eyewitnesses is playing on people's feelings via exposure to shocking content.
Here is some relevant information I extracted from that study:
A summary of the subjective comments of those experiencing drowning is presented in Table 1. In both groups, many individuals mention struggling to hold their breath on initial immersion (see previous section). All but two of the AG group (who may have been semi-conscious on submersion) found at least part of the experience 'painful', 'awful', a 'struggle' or 'shocking'. In all such cases, this was associated with the aspiration of water, irrespective of whether this water was fresh, chlorinated or salt water. A 'burning sensation' on aspirating water was specifically mentioned by eight of these individuals. Again, this sensation was not associated with any particular type of water. In contrast, only three individuals in the NAG mentioned their experience being painful; it is possible that these particular individuals aspirated water, but the evidence was not sufficient to place them in the AG. Nine of the NAG (60%) specifically mentioned not feeling any pain.
I finally inhaled (water). All the tension in my chest instantly cleared and it felt almost as if I were breathing in air. I was cold which was alarming considering the water was warm, but I didn't exactly care. My whole body had gone lax and I let my eyes slip shut. It felt just like falling asleep.