TV and movies that address suicide

The Netflix original TV series “13 Reasons Why,” which was originally a book, was released to the public in 2017. Viewers debated the risk of children watching the show, with some arguing that it romanticized suicide and others arguing that it opened up the conversation regarding mental health and suicide among youth in the United States.

McIntosh, Duckworth and Garrett all brought up “13 Reasons Why” as an example of how the media portrays and discusses suicide — especially youth suicide, in this case, because the show takes place in a high school setting.

“Media has guidelines for how to cover suicide,” Duckworth told the DNCF. “’13 Reasons Why’ violated many of those guidelines. The key is to not … glamorize, not reveal or post the person’s suicide note — which is essentially the plot of ’13 Reasons Why.’ They took strides in Series Two.”

McIntosh explained that access to information about suicide through TV, movies and the internet is a double-edged sword because while talking about mental illness is “important and necessary,” the different ways in which mental-health is addressed on different media platforms can have negative impacts on certain viewers.

Garrett similarly told the DCNF that the entertainment media’s depiction of suicide “have been shown to have an influence in suicide and suicide attempts, particularly when such depictions include graphic portrayals of suicide attempts that model lethal methods.”

“Recent studies have shown an increase in suicidal behavior linked to the first season of ’13 Reasons Why,'” Garrett added.

The plot of the book and TV series is the aftermath of a young girl’s suicide. She leaves cassette tapes behind for individual classmates who played a role in her suicide. On the tapes, she explains what certain events and people led her to finally kill herself.

“‘There’s ’13 Reasons Why,'” McIntosh said. ‘There’s a lot of discussion. Kids are more likely to learn about suicide within their communities and people talking about it more, but there are some kids who will vulnerable to [the show’s message]. I still have people say to me, ‘Suicide is such a selfish act.’ I don’t understand where that comes from.”

She went on to condemn the talking point that suicide is “selfish” because those who commit suicide aren’t just depressed for themselves; they are depressed because they feel they are hurting their loved ones, too, and think suicide will alleviate some of the pain they are causing others.

“It isn’t a selfish act, and I think the most important job on Earth is parenting, and so we all need to be talking to our kids about this. If they’re watching stuff like this on TV, it’s an opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about, ‘Have you ever had these kinds of thoughts? And if you have, please know that I’m here and I’m going to help you,'” McIntosh continued.

After the show received backlash in 2017 when it was released, Netflix removed the main character’s “graphic” suicide scene and added trigger warnings to several other scenes throughout the series. The third season will have similar warnings, according to Vox.

“’13 Reasons Way’ — there has been some research that [showed] people who watched it were more likely to be interested in harming themselves. … It’s important for people in media to be responsible in their portrayals of suicide, and I think that’s a great example of how not to do it,” Duckworth said.

Need help? Call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or visit SAMHSA’s treatment locator here.

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Image: Reuters.