Arno Herberth

Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide: Werther v. Papageno effects

BACKGROUND Media reporting of suicide has repeatedly been shown to trigger suicidal behaviour. Few studies have investigated the associations between specific media content and suicide rates. Even less is known about the possible preventive effects of suicide-related media content. AIMS To test the hypotheses that certain media content is associated with an increase in suicide, suggesting a so-called Werther effect, and that other content is associated with a decrease in suicide, conceptualised as a Papageno effect. Further, to identify classes of media articles with similar reporting profiles and to test for associations between these classes and suicide. METHOD Content analysis and latent class analysis (LCA) of 497 suicide-related print media reports published in Austria between 1 January and 30 June 2005. Ecological study to identify associations between media item content and short-term changes in suicide rates. RESULTS Repetitive reporting of the same suicide and the reporting of suicide myths were positively associated with suicide rates. Coverage of individual suicidal ideation not accompanied by suicidal behaviour was negatively associated with suicide rates. The LCA yielded four classes of media reports, of which the mastery of crisis class (articles on individuals who adopted coping strategies other than suicidal behaviour in adverse circumstances) was negatively associated with suicide, whereas the expert opinion class and the epidemiological facts class were positively associated with suicide. CONCLUSIONS The impact of suicide reporting may not be restricted to harmful effects; rather, coverage of positive coping in adverse circumstances, as covered in media items about suicidal ideation, may have protective effects.

The gap between suicide characteristics in the print media and in the population

BACKGROUND Programmes to educate media professionals about suicide are increasingly established, but information about which suicide cases are most likely to be reported in the mass media is sparse. METHODS We applied binomial tests to compare frequencies of social characteristics of all domestic suicides in the 13 largest Austrian print media in 2005 with frequencies of suicide characteristics in the population. Additionally, each reported suicide case was linked to its respective entry in the suicide database. We performed a logistic regression analysis, with presence of an article as outcome, and sex of the suicide case, age, religious affiliation, family status, conduction of an autopsy and location of the suicide as explaining variables. Time of the year and federal state where the suicide happened was controlled for. RESULTS Binomial tests showed that suicides involving murder or murder attempt were over-represented in the media. Reporting on mental disorders was under-represented. In the regression analysis, the likelihood of a report was negatively associated with the age of suicide cases. Foreign citizenship was a further predictor of a suicide report. The methods of drowning, jumping, shooting and rare methods were more likely to be reported than hanging, which is the most frequent suicide method in Austria. CONCLUSIONS Suicide characteristics in the media are not representative of the population. The identified discrepancies provide a basis for tailor-made education of mass media professionals.

Papageno v Werther effect

Sensationalist media reports, as in Hong Kong’s print media,1 can trigger further suicides—the Werther effect.2 However, we recently found that the effects of suicide related news stories was broad and sometimes protective, depending on the contents of the story.3 …

Personal suicidality in reception and identification with suicidal film characters

The authors investigated the impact of suicidality on identity work during film exposure. Adults with low suicidality (n = 150) watched either Its My Party or The Fire Within, censored versions of these films not depicting the suicide, or the control film that concluded with a non-suicidal death. Baseline suicidality was measured with questionnaires before the movie. Identity work and identification with the protagonist were measured after the movie. Suicidality was directly associated with identity work during film dramas depicting suicide methods. The reception of suicide-related media content seems to partially depend on personal suicidality. Potential implications for suicide prevention are discussed.

Can media effects counteract legislation reforms? The case of adolescent firearm suicides in the wake of the Austrian firearm legislation

To assess the impact of the Austrian firearm legislation (1997) on adolescent suicides, we investigated time trends in youth suicide prevalence (1986-2006) with Poisson regression. A temporary increase in firearm suicides after the reform was observed, followed by a continuous decrease. The hypothesis that media reporting triggered the short-term backlash effect is discussed.

Krieg trifft auf Alltag. Die Erfahrung des Zweiten Weltkriegs in Andreas Okopenkos Kindernazi

Die historische Substanz der NS-Zeit ist auf vielfaltige Weise versatzstuckartig in Andreas Okopenkos Roman Kindernazi eingelassen. Das Bemerkenswerte daran ist, dass dies ohne moralisierenden Unterton geschieht, wie es sonst in der osterreichischen Literatur nach 1945 bis dahin meistens der Fall gewesen ist. Die Maschinerie des NS-Staates und die Indoktrination durch die NS-Propaganda sind einerseits sprachlich durch meist verdeckte Zitate und die Imitation eines ideologisch gefarbten Sprachgestus prasent und andererseits auf der Ebene des ruckwarts erzahlten Handlungsverlaufs offensichtlich. Die asthetischen Verfahrensweisen Okopenkos sind radikal modern und bergen dadurch indirekt das kritische Potential zur Subversion der heranzitierten Ideologeme in sich: Zeitzeugnisse sowie subjektiv-personliche Eindrucke und pubertare Empfindungen sind montageartig nebeneinander gestellt. Eine koharente Narration ist dadurch irritiert und gleichermasen verfremdet. Der Verfremdung arbeiten ebenso eine Mixtur an eingesetzten Genres (Tagebuch, Protokoll, Brief, Schulaufsatze, etc.), eine instabile Erzahlperspektive, die sprachspielerische Verballhornung von Ideologemen und die ruckwarts erzahlte Chronologie der Ereignisse zu. Der Erinnerungsraum, der dadurch aufgespannt wird, erfahrt eine rezeptionsasthetische Offnung.

The Role of Interviews with Health Professionals in the Media in Suicide Prevention

In a recent edition ofArchives of Suicide Research, Edwards-Stewart, Kinn, June, and Fullerton (2011) published an interesting article on military and civilian media coverage of suicide. In the course of their report, the authors point out that including interviews with health professionals as encouraged by the guidelines of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC, 2007) and other organizations is recommended practice. Citing a study from our work-group (Niederkrotenthaler et al., 2010), they further elaborate that not all researchers agree with this practice. In this context it seems necessary to make clear that we do not in any way disagree and have never disagreed with the practice of giving expert opinions related to suicide in media collaborations. This is an important part of the work of public health professionals in the topic area. However, the findings of our research showed two important points that need to be considered when giving interviews to mass media that are also consistent with experiences from other countries: First, expert interviews are frequently put into a sensationalist context not recommended in current media recommendations for reporting suicide, and this type of articles was associated with a post-report increase in suicides in our study. This means that expert opinions do not seem to prevent all further suicide, though post-report increases may be higher without them. The second important finding was that expert opinions per se were not independently associated with post-report suicide when controlling for other reporting characteristics like the reporting (not debunking) of public suicide myths. Thus, there is no evidence that expert opinions on suicide per se have harmful effects on the society. Still, it is important to make sure that interviews with health professionals are not utilized as an excuse or alibi for inappropriate reporting of suicidal behavior, and whenever possible and feasible, experts who give interviews should also ask about the contextualization of their opinions and collaborate with media professionals on the development of responsible reporting. In our experience, many media professionals do appreciate this offer.