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A study examining US Google search data after the release of TV series 13 Reasons Why has found suicide-related queries increased by nearly 20 per cent.
Key points:
- Looked at past data on suicide search trends, forecasted out what might have been if show was not made
- Up to 1.5 million more searches than the researchers expected
- Most of the queries involved suicidal ideation, rather than ways to prevent it
The Netflix series features a high school student — played by Perth actress Katherine Langford — who takes her own life and leaves behind audio tapes pointing the finger at many of her peers.
Following its release earlier this year, the series was blamed for an increased number of calls to helplines in Australia.
Now a study published in the American Medical Association's journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, found Google fielded up to 1.5 million more suicide-related searches in the 19 days after the show's release.
Study lead author Dr John Ayers, from the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University, said based on users preferences, in some cases Netflix had been "pushing this content to people who have suicidal thoughts".
"We took all the past data on suicide search trends and forecasted out what might have been, had the show not been released," he said.
The survey found suicide-related searches were up 19 per cent.
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The team behind the show said they wanted to raise awareness and provide an authentic glimpse of the struggles young people faced in school.
But Dr Ayers said most of the queries involved suicidal ideation, rather than ways to prevent it.
"On one hand, you can see how this would raise awareness," Dr Ayers said.
"We would have seen a tremendous increase in people searching for how to prevent suicide, how to help out their friends with suicide.
"But we didn't see that. Instead, what we saw was people searching for ideation. People searching for ways to kill themselves."
Internet searches 'reveal what people are thinking'
Just last month, a Netflix movie about a young woman's treatment for anorexia prompted concern from support groups, and a warning was put in place about the content of the film.
The same was done for 13 Reasons Why, along with other measures, including an accompanying website with information about where to get help.
But Dr Ayers described actions like that as building a safety net, while pushing people over the ledge.
He acknowledged it was hard to tell whether any of the internet searches actually led to suicide attempts.
"We often have events happening like the release of 13 Reasons Why, where we know it's probably impacting outcomes, but we can't assess how because we're waiting on traditional data," he said.
"That's why we've brought internet search queries to bear, because we can understand what the population is thinking and when they're thinking it.
"And that's highly actionable, and highly valuable in this particular case."
Netflix said it believed the show would increase discussion around the issue and planned to take everything it learnt to heart as it prepared for a second season.
But some have argued more should have been done before the first season.
Dangers within new binge-watching space
Dr Fincina Hopgood is a lecturer in screen studies at the University of New England in NSW and an expert on representations of mental illness in film.
She said that in this instance, the producers were, "very cavalier in their approach to adapting the novel to the screen".
"That said, I don't want to suggest that we cannot be making shows about suicide, and in particular about teen suicide," she said.
"I do think the screen media has the potential to open up really healthy and important discussions about mental health."
But she said there were challenges in the entertainment industry that have not been seen before — such as the surge in downloading "binge-watching content."
"When these sorts of shows were being aired on public broadcasters, I think the public broadcaster could really try and control the flow of information and the display of the programs and actually pace the watching," she said.
"We're now in a situation where we don't actually have those external controls."
Dr Hopgood said it was now beholden on the platform operator to put checks in place to ensure teenagers would not be able to binge on certain shows.
"Or if they do binge watch, actually have popup windows for, 'Are you feeling troubled by this content? Please go to the hotline', or those sorts of things that we see [on] the ABC, for example," she said.
"I think we do have to think about bringing together mental health policy and broadcasting regulations to help protect the viewer from feeling overwhelmed.
"And we have to remember in this case, we're talking about viewers who are particularly susceptible to feeling overwhelmed by these sorts of images."
If you or anyone you know needs help, please contact Headspace, Lifeline, Kids Helpline, or Beyond Blue.
Topics: suicide, community-and-society, information-and-communication, television-broadcasting, research-organisations, television, arts-and-entertainment, mental-health, united-states