Does a Copycat Effect Exist in the Emergency Department?

Kim, Woo Jung; Song, Youn Joo; Namkoong, Kee; Kim, Jae Min; Yoon, Hye Jin; Lee, Eun

doi:10.2190/pm.45.1.e

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(65 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results demonstrated no significant clinical differences (symptoms acuity, suicidal status, hospitalization rates) in presentation during the two weeks following both suicides compared to the two weeks before, except for acuity of mood symptoms, which barely reached significance. Interestingly, a recent Korean study that looked specifically at suicide attempts uncovered no significant difference between the number of suicide attempts before and after a celebrity suicide (Kim et al 2013). The finding that clinical severity of ED presentation was not affected in this study is important because it means that a greater number of youths with MH problems sought services; youths who may not have sought services otherwise.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 50%

Media Coverage of Youth Suicides and Its Impact on Paediatric Mental Health Emergency Department Presentations

Leon

Cloutier

Bélair

et al. 2014

hcpol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: To examine mental health (MH) presentations to the emergency department (ED) of a paediatric hospital following two highly publicized local teen suicides. Methods: Youths aged 12-18 years with a MH chief complaint and/or diagnosis were included. Differences in frequencies were analyzed using chi-square tests, and relative risks were evaluated using generalized linear modelling. Results: Significant increases in the number of ED presentations were found within the months of the publicized suicides compared to the same months of previous years. No differences were found in symptom acuity, suicidal status and psychiatric hospitalization rates. Significant increases were found in relative risk of presenting to the ED 28 and 90 days post both publicized suicides. Conclusions: Results suggest there was an association between highly publicized suicides and an increase in the number of MH presentations to the local paediatric ED. Considerations of media' s potentially positive role in MH awareness are needed. Résumé Contexte : Examiner les visites pour raison de santé mentale aux services des urgences d'un hôpital pédiatrique suite à deux suicides d' adolescents fortement couverts par les médias locaux. Méthode : Les jeunes de 12 à 18 ans avec un motif de consultation et/ou un diagnostique lié à la santé mentale ont été inclus dans cette étude. Les différences dans la fréquence ont été analysées au moyen du test de chi carré et les risques relatifs ont été évalués par modélisation linéaire généralisée. Résultats : Nous avons observé un accroissement significatif des visites aux services des urgences dans les deux mois qui ont suivi l' annonce des suicides, comparativement aux mêmes mois de l' année précédente. Nous n' avons pas observé de différences dans la gravité des symptômes, le statut suicidaire et les taux d'hospitalisation pour raisons psychiatriques. Nous avons observé un accroissement significatif du risque relatif de se présenter aux services des urgences de 28 à 90 jours après l' annonce des suicides. Conclusions : Les résultats font voir qu'il y a un lien entre les suicides hautement médiatisés et un accroissement du nombre de visites pour des raisons de santé mentale aux services des urgences d'un hôpital pédiatrique local. Il est nécessaire de se pencher sur le rôle potentiellement positif des médias dans la prise de conscience sur la santé mentale.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 50%

Media Coverage of Youth Suicides and Its Impact on Paediatric Mental Health Emergency Department Presentations

Leon

Cloutier

Bélair

et al. 2014

hcpol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Several studies have previously shown a rapid and sustained increase in suicide following a celebrity's completed suicide in Korea. 28 29 The strong effect of the media has been suggested as a reason for copycat suicides, and new media including Instagram are particularly important as potential risk factors for NSSI. 30 31 32 Although we could not delineate a causal relationship between increased SA or NSSI and social phenomenon or media in this study, improvement in media reporting and the implementation of preventive strategies for high-risk populations might be important in reducing harmful behaviors among adolescents.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Trends of Suicide Attempt or Non-suicidal Self-injury in Children and Adolescents Visiting Emergency Department

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidality are common reasons for child and adolescent psychiatric emergencies. We aimed to investigate the incidence of pediatric emergency department (PED) utilization for psychiatric problems in children and adolescents and to identify demographic and clinical characteristics of youths who visited the PED for suicide attempt (SA) and/or NSSI. Methods The medical records of children and adolescents who visited the PED for psychiatric problems from January 2015 to November 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. Demographic and clinical variables including psychiatric disorders were collected. We compared the characteristics of youths who presented to the PED for SA and/or NSSI with those of youths without SA or NSSI. Student's t -test, χ 2 test, and multivariate logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. Results During 59 months of observation, 194 youths visited the PED and the number of total PED visits was 336. Among them, 46 youths (23.7%) visited the PED for SA and/or NSSI at least once, and the number of visits was 91 (27.1% of PED visits). Youths with SA and/or NSSI were older ( P = 0.001) and more likely to be a girl ( P = 0.005) and to report parental absence ( P = 0.023). Bipolar and related disorders ( P = 0.032) and depressive disorders ( P = 0.004) were more common in youths with SA and/or NSSI, while schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders ( P = 0.030) and somatic symptom and related disorders ( P = 0.007) were more common in those without SA and NSSI. After adjusting for age, sex, and parental marital status, bipolar and related disorders (odds ratio [OR], 6.72), depressive disorders (OR, 9.59), and somatic symptom and related disorders (OR, 0.12) were significantly associated with SA and/or NSSI. Youths with SA and/or NSSI also stayed longer in the PED ( P = 0.007). Conclusion SA and NSSI are one of the main reasons for child and adolescent admittance to psychiatric services in the PED and are associated with psychiatric comorbidities. An appropriate risk assessment for suicidality and self-injury and proper management and referral to mental health services at the PED are of the utmost importance.

show abstract

“…Previous studies demonstrated a copycat effect by analyzing suicide data after one or two celebrity suicides, examining suicide attempts in emergency departments and demonstrating the correlation of media coverage with overall changes of suicide number. 8 9 10 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Copycat Suicide Induced by Entertainment Celebrity Suicides in South Korea

Jang

Sung

Park

et al. 2016

Psychiatry Investig

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveThroughout the past several years, there have been a number of entertainment celebrity suicides in South Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the clustering of suicides following celebrities' suicides in South Korea from 2005 to 2008, particularly according to certain characteristics.MethodsSeven celebrity suicides were examined and defined using the Korean Integrated Newspaper Database System (KINDS) and from these, we considered four affected periods occurring 28 days after each celebrity's suicide. A Poisson time-series autoregression model was used to estimate the relative risk of the total suicide number for each affected period from 2005 to 2008. Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether there were specific increases in the numbers of suicides in subgroups matching each celebrity.ResultsThere were significant increases in the risk of suicide during the affected periods. Remarkable increases were found in the subgroups matching each celebrity, especially in the group in which all factors (sex, age, and method) were similar.ConclusionThis study provides confirmation that a significant copycat effect was induced by these celebrities' suicides, especially among people who identified more with the celebrities. This implies that countermeasures for upright media coverage of celebrity suicides should be discussed and practiced properly in South Korea.

show abstract

Does a Copycat Effect Exist in the Emergency Department?

Abstract: A copycat effect was found in ED-visiting suicide attempts. Prevention of re-attempts should be initiated in the ED. A specific action guide should be established for suicide attempts in the ED, including cooperation between other hospitals, the community, and the media.

Cited by 11 publications

References 33 publications

Media Coverage of Youth Suicides and Its Impact on Paediatric Mental Health Emergency Department Presentations

Media Coverage of Youth Suicides and Its Impact on Paediatric Mental Health Emergency Department Presentations

Characteristics and Trends of Suicide Attempt or Non-suicidal Self-injury in Children and Adolescents Visiting Emergency Department

Copycat Suicide Induced by Entertainment Celebrity Suicides in South Korea

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About