From the Editor
It’s a hit show. Is it dangerous?
Since its launch, 13 Reasons Why has been highly controversial; the storyline of the Netflix series revolves around a teenager’s decision to suicide – which is graphically depicted over three minutes in one episode.
In this week’s Reading, we look at a new Psychiatric Services paper. University of Michigan’s Dr. Victor Hong and his co-authors consider the impact of the show on youth seeking psychiatric care for suicide-related risk. While other studies have analyzed the response in the larger community (including google searches), this study focuses on a vulnerable population. They find: “For certain youths, watching the series correlated with a perceived nonzero elevation in their suicide risk; identification with the main female character and strong affective reactions may be markers of increased risk associated with viewing the show.”
Big buzz, big problem?
In the other selection, we look at a short essay recently published in JAMA. In “Grief After Suicide,” Dr. Orford discusses the suicide of his brother. The Deakin University intensivist notes that: “As a physician, I have cared for thousands of patients and families in the last hours and days of life. I have listened, watched, and learned.” The loss of his brother, however, continues to have a major effect on his life, three decades later.
DG
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