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The Influence on Reporting a Celebrity Suicide on Suicidal Behavior


Patients who are younger and depressed and have made a suicide attempt within a month prior to a media report of a celebrity suicide are at increased risk of a subsequent suicide attempt. The increase was almost 12 times higher than subjects with no previous attempt, 8 times higher to those with a suicide attempt within a half year, and further to 2 to 3-fold among those with a suicide attempt of longer than a half year. If you or a loved one are experiencing thoughts of hurting or killing yourself, you’re not alone. If you want talk about it right now you can text or call national anonymous resources. kentucky counseling center helps you in the Suicide Prevention.

Factors influencing the risk of media influences

 

    • Age under 55 years

 

    • Previous suicidal behavior

 

    • Presence of depression

 

438 Depressive patients from psychiatric outpatient clinics of 6 medical centers in Taiwan were interviewed by psychiatrists. They were interviewed for suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts, psychiatric diagnosis and the clinical status of the patients depression before the first media report was assessed.

About one third of the respondents said that the reporting had a negative influence on their subsequent suicidal thoughts and attempts. In 5.5% there was a suicide attempt.
The media influence reached it’s peak at 40 days.

Limitations

 

    • Study relied on self-report

 

    • Influence of other factors cannot be ruled out

 

    • No comparison group without exposure

 

Need for more restrained reporting of suicides. On the website of the WHO there is a complete list with: Preventing Suicide: a resource series among which there is also a resource for media professionals to preventing suicide. (PDF 39KB)
ResearchBlogging.org
CHENG, A., HAWTON, K., CHEN, T., YEN, A., CHANG, J., CHONG, M., LIU, C., LEE, Y., TENG, P., CHEN, L. (2007). The influence of media reporting of a celebrity suicide on suicidal behavior in patients with a history of depressive disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 103(1-3), 69-75. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2007.01.021