What is the psychology behind the Werther effect? And what should be the response of our society?

[noname223]

I have thousands of ideas what I could write in this thread. It could become a long one.
Today I listened to the performance of Chester Bennington "One more light" after he learned about the suicide of Chris Cornell. To be precise this was not exactly the Werther effect rather a copycat suicide. Chester ctb roundabout 2 months after the suicide of his close friend. I asked myself whether Chester decided to ctb when he learned about Cornell's suicide. But I should not make too many speculations.
This evoked another thought. Suicides can lead to a suicide of another person. It can be contagious.

This led me to the following question: How should the media report about suicides when suicides can be contagious? There are different press codes for ethical journalism. Personally I really like to read about suicides of different people and their motives. I don't think people who ctb are heroes and I think these people should not be seen as role models (solely due to the fact that they ctb). I don't think suicide is any way of sort cool. Though I can relate to many stories. Sometimes I recognize myself in what the people (who ctb) describe. The situations they describe, their feelings, desperation and reasons why they did it. I often have the feeling my suicide is unavoidable. And for example the author which I really like David Foster Wallace could describe this feeling/desperation so absolutely accurately. I cannot relate to everything what he wrote (but to a lot). Moreover not every person who ctb seems to be similar to me or my emotional state. For example I could not really relate to Kurt Cobain. I could not really fully understand his feelings etc. Our streams of consciousness might have been completely different.

The media has different rules in order to avoid the Werther effect. But can't people like me get the information anyway? I mean there are so many books and songs from people who have committed suicide. Usually they don't even have an age restriction. Though you could argument that an unncessary detailed coverage of suicides would just be on top of that. Simply because other content had this damaging effect the media should not increase this effect with their reporting.

There are several articles which I read in the past 12 months where I am not sure whether they abide to the press code (for suicide reporting). Just for fact: The report of the NYT about this forum was judged as a striking example how not to report about suicide. They described names in details, gave explicit information about lethal methods. It was just like a big advertisement for this forum in some sense. It is in some way ironic that I touch this topic exactly in this so-called "evil forum". Though it also evokes the question why chronically suicidal and vulnerable people like me feel more attracted or comforted by this place than the usual mental health forums. In other forums I was insulted for my suicidality, called crazy and I received very hurtful responses. I won't elaborate on that now. I have done that in the past but this thread has another topic.

Another article (in my favorite magazine) which I really appreciated had such a huge value. I am not sure sure whether it abided the press code. If I had to guess I would say no. It was a very detailed article about the suicide (self-immolation) of a transwoman in the capital of my country. It was absolutely heartbreaking and gut wrenching. For me personally I have become more aware of the hatred to which transgender people are exposed. This article really had a positive impact on me. It could only have this effect because it was so detailed. But when we look at the press code for journalism it might have been a violation. I had the feeling the article gave the victim of several crimes some part of her dignity back. This woman had to endure unbelievable torture. She was spit in her face when she was alive and humilitated, her dead body was ridiculed on the internet. Yes people spread videos of her suicide/corpse and many have made fun of her.

I just have the feeling this article was absolutely right and it was very good that it was published. I has shown the cruelness our society has done to this person and it should be a warning for all of us that something like has to prevented. (With something like that I mean the way how this transperson was dehumanized which resulted in her suicide.)
If I had to endure such an unbelivable torture I would feel better that at least the story of my agony was told. I would hope that other people learn from the mistakes (the abuse) which I had to endure and that other parents are aware how damaging child abuse can be. If I commited suicide I would not want that my voice was silenced.

I would want that my pain was acknowledged. And I think if I was that honest about the pain which was caused (also my suicidality) other platforms like facebook would silence/censor me. (Writing I want assisted suicide is censored there someone told me that). Something like that gives me the feeling many people want to be protected of sad stories. They don't want to be confronted with too much negativity. This is at least the vibes I get from such a censorship.

On the other hand I can understand that people are afraid of the contagiousness of suicides. There should be no heroization of suicides in the media. (Though I think I barely have read something like that in the media. Rather suicide related articles which were clickbait and an easy money-grab.)
I think it would be better if we would talk more openly about this topic in our society. I won't elaborate on this more in this thread it is already way way too long. Congratz that you have reached the end of this post.

What do you think is the psychology behind the Werther effect? And how should the media/our society respond to that?

 

[noname223]

I am a little bit surprsied. 0 replies and 0 reactions. It really took me some time formulate my thoughs. I was curious about your replies. But maybe the topic was too boring. And I suppose my endless writing style discouraged many to read it fully.
I was curious whether some people find my elaborated argumentation annoying (and to find out where we disagree). Maybe these people just have decided to ignore the thread on purpose?

 

[Pluto]

The mainstream media seems to have strict standards around reporting on this topic, with exceptions as you say. It usually seems to involve putting various 'hotlines' all over the place and tends to avoid rationalising suicide.

Suicide contagion is definitely a thing. I once lived near a high school where there was a spate of about 10 children who died at a nearby railway crossing. I've also known of people who had loved ones CTB and they seem at higher risk of following suit.

The topic of celebrity suicides is more complex. I have heard of Kurt Cobain cited as an example of a high-profile case where there was a lack of copycat cases that might have otherwise been expected. Cobain's actual reasons included an extreme drug habit, a desire to protect his daughter from his issues and I sensed he never wanted to be the superstar that he was, being from a humble underground background. I doubt you or I have these particular problems.

I will add, though, that young people I have spoken to over the past couple of decades have barely heard of Nirvana or Kurt Cobain. As a 40-something myself, this band was equivalent to the Beatles (and indirectly inspired by it) in terms of being the music that expressed the vibe of the entire generation. The fact that a musical act of such historical significance can be forgotten so quickly shows that there is a reluctance to speak openly about Cobain and what happened.

As a further digression, I lament the fact that modern popular music is exclusively about sexual relations and forbids the human factor of bygone ages in favour of a generic, radio-friendly unit-shifter sound. Perhaps if young people were allowed to express emotions like anger or sadness rather than just obsessing over their appearance, they might be having less mental health issues. But as with this forum itself, there's a fine line between venting such feelings and going down a rabbit hole of darkness. Apparently censorship is the silver bullet solution, according to society.

 

[demuic]

There would not be a threat of "contagion" if people worked to improve the societal, social and psychological conditions that lead someone to commit suicide.

Of course some people could see the suicide of a celebrity, and that could act as trigger for them if it was someone they really admired, but without them already being in a position where they are contemplating suicide, it's not like someone's going to kill themselves out of thin air when they are living a fulfilling and happy life with no significant or chronic issues. I think calling it an effect at all paints something of a false image. There is even less evidence of this "effect" occuring with fictional media. I dislike this idea that it is contagious as if it is a flu, someone sad breathes in your direction and now you're jumping off a cliff.

This "effect" reminds of the "do video games cause violence" debate. People would like to boil down something that has a lot of different complex factors involved in it into a simple cause/effect even if it doesn't make sense. There is rarely such concern given to, say, releasing the details of how people get murdered in order to prevent copycat murders, in fact there is even an entire illustrious genre of television shows and other media dedicated to showcasing exactly that.

Humans are complex, it's not always or even in the majority of cases as simple as "monkey see, monkey do."

Regardless, censorship is still not the answer. People should be allowed to express what they are feeling without the threat of psychiatric imprisonment or useless platitudes, and given real, concrete help outside the standard pills and therapy if that is what they desire. Society's treatment of suicide is should be the biggest concern, but that's not easy to take care of by plastering hotline numbers everywhere.

 

[Oblivion Access]

I can't speak for others, but I find the fact so many people from all walks of life have brought a decisive end to themselves almost... soothing or reassuring? Of course, one's subjective experience being so detestable as to cause a successful suicide attempt is a tragedy all on it's own, but at the very least their torment is no more. Despite how impossible successfully going through with it seems sometimes, knowing countless people have managed it makes it seem all the more plausible. For others who might not regularly think of suicide, someone they know or someone on the news or w/e might bring that option to the table when they wouldn't have considered it otherwise.

I maintain that outside of discussing it if the person is open to it or making attempts to improve their experience until they no longer find suicide necessary or appealing, we have little to no right to stop others from bringing their life to a close. The current paradigm of suicide "prevention" (merely delaying it for the more determined of us) and prohibition is a cause of great anguish for the suicidal person and attempts at liberalization and removal of stigma coupled with practical steps to improve the lives of those most at risk while letting them retain or improve agency are the way to go imo.