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

Abstract

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.

The association of exposure to suicide-related Internet content and emergency department visits in children: A population-based time series analysis

“…Among children age 12-18 years, the authors found a significant increase in ED presentations for mental illness, substance misuse or abuse, and intentional selfharm, but no significant effect on suicidal status (ideation, plan, gesture or attempt) or psychiatric hospitalization rate. 4 Their findings were somewhat contradictory to ours and may be due to differences in the sampling frame. Leon et al studied ED visits at a single Canadian academic centre within a narrow geographic region of Ontario, in contrast to our sample which included all Ontario EDs, possibly making an association easier to observe.…”

“…Using aggregate data, we identified all patients age 11-17 years who presented to Ontario EDs using International Classification of Disease and Health Related Problems, Tenth Revision, Canada (ICD-10-CA) codes for suicidal ideation (R45.851), intentional self-poisoning (X60-X69) and intentional self-harm (X70-X84). These discharge diagnoses were used previously to explore the impact of media coverage on adolescent suicidal behaviour 4,19,20 and were chosen because we felt they comprehensively encompassed the range of suicide-related behaviour. Self-harm encompasses suicidal attempts 20 and is a major risk factor for suicide.…”

“…2 The role of the Internet, particularly social media, on suicide-related behaviour is a topic of intense debate, 3 and fueled in part by several highly publicized suicides involving social media. 4 Several populationbased studies support the theory that suicide contagion (exposure to a suicide influences suicidality in others) 5 is a factor in adolescent suicides. [6][7][8] Awareness of suicides from online discussion forums 9 and television news 10 have been linked to an increase in suicidal ideation (SI) among adolescents.…”

A description of ‘Australian Lyme disease’ epidemiology and impact: an analysis of submissions to an Australian senate inquiry

“…Almost 10% of submissions reported self‐diagnosis after viewing a media report. Media influence on increasing diagnosis and clinical presentations has been described in influenza and in particular mental health, where media coverage of suicides can lead to increased at‐risk presentations and suicides . A patient who feels let‐down by mainstream medicine may personally identify with the generally sensationalised, but ultimately hopeful, tone of many of these media reports, and then seek a similar diagnosis.…”

A Short Media Training Session Is Effective in Reinforcing Psychiatrists’ Communication Skills About Suicide

“…Among prevention actions recommended as efficient, the WHO promotes the empowerment of media professionals in reporting on suicide-related events. For more than half a century, the literature has indeed provided robust evidence that incautious media coverage of suicide is associated with a substantial increase of suicide rates, especially in young populations ( Phillips, 1974 ; Leon et al, 2014 ) and/or when a celebrity in involved ( Niederkrotenthaler et al, 2020 ). Detrimental consequences of suicide-related reports have been tagged “Werther Effect” (WE) in reference to the European suicide epidemy that followed the publication of Goethes’ Sorrow of the Young Werther ( Von Goethe, 1774 ).…”