On the morning of August 7, 1962, the world woke up in shock the night before, the housekeeper Marilyn Monroe found her body in the bathroom, the media quickly confirmed that it was a suicide. 303 young people committed suicide. The Werther effect once again illustrated the front pages of newspapers.
In the 1990s, several years after this famous affair, American society relived something similar with Kurt Cobain’s death: every time a media outlet reported a celebrity’s suicide, a suicide epidemic shook the country.
But what kind of connection could there be between someone in show business and a normal person?
The Werther effect was the term referred to by sociologist David Phillips in 1974 to define the imitation effect of suicidal behavior. The name comes from the book “The Sufferings of the Young Werther”, by the German writer Wolfgang von Goethe. the protagonist commits suicide out of love.
It was a great success and, shortly after its publication in 1774, some forty young people lost their lives very similarly to that of the protagonist. This strange and macabre phenomenon has led to the prohibition of books in countries such as Italy and Denmark.
Based on similar cases, Phillips conducted a study between 1947 and 1968 in which he found revealing data. The following month, after the New York Times published an article about the suicide of an acquaintance, the rate of people who committed suicide increased by nearly 12%.
This pattern continues to be repeated today, in mid-2017 Canada tried to ban the series?13 reasons why, after considering that it could have the same effect, and even the World Health Organization has produced a document with guidelines that journalists should follow when reporting facts related to suicide.
Depends on how it is done, one of the tips is to try not to go into detail or omit things that can generate a feeling of compassion, an event with this impact should not trigger any imitation process, so we must deal with any new or thought of this nature without any sensationalism.
Many artists throughout history have tended to show a romanticization of suicide, a determining factor in many of these deaths.
Some experts reject the Werther effect in its entirety, but not its nuances. They believe that people with suicidal tendencies may copy the way people die, but exclude celebrities from responsibility for the deaths of others.
It is necessary to treat news of this kind with a special sensitivity, no photographs or identification should be shown, especially in the case of children and adolescents, it is important that suicide is not idealized as an escape from reality.
“Try to live life, suffer and enjoy it?Is life wonderful if you are not afraid of it?Charlie Chaplin?
Despite everything, we need to talk about suicide. We need to tell these missing people that there is another way out and that we can help them find a new solution. Shutting up and looking the other way only serves to stigmatize a topic that affects many people. You should always try to do this respectfully and assertively, breaking the huge taboo around you. Ignoring or hiding a reality does not mean that it does not exist, but becomes stronger and stronger.
Fiction does not encourage suicide. The same goes for news, which does not mean that information should not be handled appropriately and responsiblely. Young Werther’s Suffering was published, we did not have the information and means we currently have, so properly expressing our emotions and asking for help when necessary is a much simpler way to deal with life’s problems.