Welcome to Nerdologia I'm Átila, biologist, researcher and it is a serious business. Today we'll see why the relationship between Thirteen Reasons Why and suicide can go beyond the fiction. Kevin Hines suffers bipolar disorder and felt a burden to his family to the world as if he didn't matter to nothing and nobody At 19 years old he walked to the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco to do what many people do there every year kill themselves But as soon as he released from the bridge he regretted of what he had done We know this because he
was one of few persons to survive the fall The shock of regret is so fast of what he was doing and realize that wasn't the exit It was so big that Kevin does, until today, suicide prevention lectures and turned his story into movie But seek the same end like other people do every year may seem strange, but it is nothing uncommon In 1774, the German Goethe published "The Sorrows of Young Werther" where the hero, Werther, falls in love with Charlotte have had your love reciprocated, but she marries Albert for whom she was promised Without how
to solve his love triangle, Werter commits suicide Goethe's novel was so worshiped, that generated cosplay Men began to dress like the hero, but the imitation went further many committed suicide in conditions similar to the novel or had a book's copy Like Christakis and Fowler tell in "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks" the worry at that time was so great that the book was banned in Germany, Denmark and Italy This relation between an notorious example of suicide and similar deaths continued supposed until the sociologist David Phillips test if the suicides between 1947 and 1968
had links to newspaper publications on the cover of the New York Times describing how someone had taken his own life In your classic publication of 1974 he didn't just confirm this relation as created the term Werther Effect for the phenomenon Many other studies confirmed the same relation not only in the United States, but also in Europe and Asia when the suicide chances goes up according to the tension the press gives That is why many press agencies and the WHO has guides on how to not report a suicide Recommend not sensationalise nor describe in much detail
what happened or presenting the death as a solution to the problems the same goes for photos and videos of what happened teenagers are the most vulnerable to Werther Effect not only by absorbing more the example but because they are less protected by social structures like marriage, kids and work And the influence also depends on the relation of the suicide with people as in the case of a celebrity or one admired person News from ordinary people can influence for some a few days or weeks but celebrities can take effect over a year like during the 60's,
which women around 30 years old had more chance to commit suicide like Marilyn Monroe did in 1962 And the similarities are not just in the way the celebrity dies but happens in a same period or even in a same place like a school or the city of Manitoba which had several consecutive cases of teenage deaths in 1995 That's why some places like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Aokigahara Forest in Japan concentrate deaths since they became famous because of this "13 Reasons Why" was criticized since the beginning for the possibility to incentive suicides because of
this social contagious effect Although the series portrays well the anguish and problems that lead someone to commit suicide and promotes discussions like this one it violates several recommendations Shows the death of Hannah Baker in details and puts this as a reason for community change as if she got what she wanted for killing herself And it seems that the criticism was right The number of tweets about the series and the fact that they already started the production of the second season are good indicators that many people have watched it We still can not know the impact
this had on suicides but the searches for suicide terms related to suicide grew up right after the release of the series Researchers who monitor Google searches for suicide-related terms saw them increase by an average of 20% after the release compared to what would be expected The term that most increased was "How to kill yourself" As the series shows, depression greatly influences suicide mainly because disorders such as depression can prevent anyone experiencing stress, problems and conflicts from seeing other solutions to what is going on Until turning death as the only possible way out in a time
of distress The sad thing is that sometimes a problem that seems huge like not passing a test, losing a job or a relationship ending loses importance some time later And unlike the situation of Hannah and her tapes, a good part of the suicides are not planned The period that people feel suicidal and are in danger usually lasts for hours or days, not months And between survivors and those who were prevented from killing themselves the majority decided to do this within one hour before the act or even less than five minutes And at least 90% do
not try again. This is so true that the UK prevented a third of suicides in the 1970s simply because they exchanged coal gas for natural gas in domestic pipelines and people could no longer suffocate themselves with a oven One more step, or one less facility, was enough In the same way as bridge barriers or keep gun and ammunition in separate rooms of the house sometimes is enough to prevent If you are going through problems and have the impression that death is the only solution it is not The real solution is to seek social protection, family,
relationships, medical and professional help in cases like depression Here in Brazil we have the "Center for Valuing Life" with which you can talk by e-mail, chat, Skype, by typing 141, or even looking at the site which are the nearest centers if you want to go in person Kevin Hines tells the same as other survivors who jumped from the bridge: they repented of what they had done as soon as they acted While this anguish and problems are fleeting and go away, the mark of the happened and the lack you make for your family and friends is
permanent We miss you.
