I promised myself that I would not write anything about depression, mental health, or Robin Williams this week. I swore that I would not throw myself onto the bandwagon. However, it has become increasingly clear to me that there must be some sort of push back against the mainstream media coverage of these matters, and that those with a voice of any kind must speak out. As someone with close ties to the mental health field, the effects of what can only called blind journalism over the past week have been made too obvious to me to ignore. The impact that bad media coverage can have must be put under the spotlight and we must learn from our mistakes. I know that I am writing this on day that is, perhaps, too late for some. My hope, then, is that in writing it I may bring to our attention issues that must be taken into account if something like this were to happen again. I believe in the advancement of knowledge on the foundation of research and, though I wish I could go back and write this article before any of this had happened, I wish even more that it may prevent similar things from happening in the future.
At the beginning of this week, news broke that actor Robin Williams (age 63) had committed suicide. I am sure that, by now, you have been exposed to all of the details of these events repeatedly and so I will not waste time by focusing on reporting these facts to you. What I want to focus on is what happened the day after these initial, matter-of-fact, news reports were published.
If you are on social media at all, which I am sure the majority of you are, then you will know that Tuesday morning marked the beginning of a series of tribute-articles and posts for Robin Williams, as well as a more in-depth look at the events that had transpired the day before. By the time that the initial shock had worn off, people flooded social media to pay their respects and share their favorite Robin Williams stories or moments. Perhaps the most talked about example of all was the Tweet sent out by the Academy. It featured a screenshot of Williams’ character Genie from the Disney film Aladdin, along with the line “Genie, you’re free.” It was quickly shared across social media and, as of this morning, has 327 499 ‘retweets’.
But did we really stop to think about what tributes like this might be doing?
***Before I really dive into the heart of the matter, I want to make clear that I do not think The Academy had any twisted motives in posting this tweet. In the same way, I do not think that the tributes made by other news websites and video-sharing profiles were made in order to create these effects which I am highlighting. Intent, however, is not the problem. The problem is the effect that these actions, whether from a place of genuine admiration or violent desire, can create. Furthermore, while some of you will undoubtedly bring up the Right to Free Speech, I want to emphasize that I am not, in this article, stating that the media cannot post things like this. What I am saying, and by the end of this article I would hope you agree with me, is that, if our goal as a society (and their goal as media) is to lower suicide rates, ease the suffering of those going through depression, and proceed towards a healthier society, then we should not post things like this.
So, now that we have that out of the way, what’s the problem?
Poor media coverage of a celebrity suicide can actually have a significant effect on the suicide rate of a population. I have had many people try and disagree with this, going so far as to say things like “They would have committed suicide anyway”, so I will point you to both this Meta-Analysis of the data, as well as the works of Durkheim which examine the critical point in a fight with depression in which someone is actually at risk of attempting suicide.
NOTE: Since posting this, a great article summarizing the contagious effects of suicide by The New York Times came to my attention. Check it out here.
The truth is that this media coverage does make more people commit suicide, according to the research. It is not a made up argument that can be chalked up to opinions. It is objective. We cannot ignore the science behind it just because we want to fit everything into our stubborn view of the world.
The evidence seems clear to me. Our media coverage can do more harm than we realize. I know that some of you may ignore the evidence under the defense of “I don’t understand how that is possible. It must not be true.” In fact, I’ve already had people present me with an argument like this. However, let me remind you that not understanding how something works does not change the fact that it works. It may inhibit our ability to fix it, and for that reason more research must be done and more regulations must be adhered to, but we cannot ignore that this effect exists just because we do not know why it exists.
Why has the news coverage this week been so awful?
The answer to me seems simple. It is an overcompensation. For the past few years the media and population has been criticized viciously for creating a stigma surrounding mental health and this past week was the chance to show that isn’t true. The issue, however, is that we didn’t just make up for the mistakes of our past, we tried to go above and beyond.
Here is a great article on how this past week has seen suicide glorified in the media. It has been talked about like it is an answer. Like it will bring peace to the sufferers. The amount of times I read variations of “Be at peace” or “I am glad you are at peace now” in my various news feeds has exceeded my ability to keep track.
People are right in saying that we need to make sure we do our part to eliminate the stigma of mental illness in the world today. We must also acknowledge, however, that it is possible to take it too far in the opposite direction.
So what do we do now?
Let me put it this way:
We have shown that we can be extremely confident, through a meta-analysis of the literature, that poor media coverage of a celebrity suicide can increase the suicide rate of a population significantly.
As a society concerned with helping those suffering from depression and other forms of mental illness, we have sworn to do our part to aid in the healing process. We regard suicide rates as something which we should aim to lower.
Therefore, we should avoid such poor and blind media coverage. We must be careful. We must do more research. And we must pay our respects to celebrities in a way that doesn’t convince our suffering friends that it would be better for everyone if they left too.
Nathan Olmstead 