10,000 suicides. Did the recession lead to 10,000 excess suicides?

Did 10,000 people kill themselves because of the last recession?

 

Raj Persaud in conversation with Oxford University Sociologist Aaron Reeves - how did the recession lead to 10,000 excess suicides?

 

Aaron Reeves is a post-doctoral researcher and an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford. He is also a post-doctoral research fellow at Nuffield College and his research interests include: political economy of health, social protection, social and cultural exclusion, and quantitative sociology.

 

He is currently working with Dr. David Stuckler examining natural experiments in relation to poverty-reduction and health as well as exploring the impact of the recession and austerity on health outcomes. In addition to this he is also working on projects analysing the association between social position and the intergenerational transference of cultural practice.

 

Dr Reeves completed his PhD in Applied Social & Economic Research with the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and has published several articles linking healthcare and the economy.

 

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A related article which may be of interest

 

http://rajpersaud.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/after-the-robin-williams-tragedy-will-there-by-copycats-raj-persaud-and-professor-sir-simon-wessely-president-of-the-royal-college-of-psychiatrists/

 

After the Robin William’s tragedy – will there be copycats? Raj Persaud and Professor Sir Simon Wessely (President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists)

 

Raj Persaud and Professor Sir Simon Wessely (President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists)

 

 

 

Robert Enke, a very famous German football goal keeper, killed himself on the railway on 10th November 2009.

 

 

 

The number of railway suicidal acts, in the following two weeks, more than doubled in Germany.

 

 

 

The study which uncovered this is entitled ‘One followed by many?—Long-term effects of a celebrity suicide on the number of suicidal acts on the German railway net’, and is recently published in the ‘Journal of Affective Disorders’. There was also an increase of railway suicides of 19% in the following two years, as compared to the two years before this tragic event.

 

 

 

The authors of the study,Ulrich Hegerl, Nicole Koburger, Christine Rummel-Kluge, Christian Gravert, Martin Walden and Roland Mergl, found the 25% increase of fatal railway suicides between 2007 and 2010 was significantly greater than the 6% increase in the total number of suicides in Germany over the same period.

 

 

 

The authors based at the University of Leipzig, and Deutsche Bahn AG (the German Railway Company), conclude that Enke’s suicide probably led to copycat suicidal behaviour on the railways.

 

 

 

 

 

The authors point out that the media attention of the footballer’s suicide was exceptional and enduring, and this may have had an impact. For example, television broadcasts of a public mourning ceremony, held in the team’s stadium, were viewed by almost 7 million German viewers.

 

 

 

30 railway suicidal acts occurred in the two-week interval before Encke’s suicide, 71 railway suicidal acts in the two week interval following this event; an increase of 137%.

 

 

 

But what is more ominous is that this research found an elevated long-term ‘attractiveness’ of railway suicidal acts after Enke’s suicide.

 

 

 

The authors conclude that their findings are a strong argument for improving media coverage of suicides, and community suicide preventive programs.

 

 

 

A study entitled ‘To What Extent Does the Reporting Behavior of the Media Regarding a Celebrity Suicide Influence Subsequent Suicides in South Korea?’, just published in the journal ‘Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior’, investigated the world record copycat effect thus far. This was the suicide of the Asian star actress Choi Jin-shil; starring in 18 films, she has been described as South Korea’s equivalent of Julia Roberts .

 

 

 

The authors, Jesuk Lee, Weon-Young Lee, Jang-Sun Hwang and Steve Stack, found her death on 2 October 2008 was subsequently associated with 429 additional suicides in South Korea, which is a record copycat effect.

 

 

 

Another recent investigation entitled, ‘Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicide: a meta-analysis’, examined 10 studies from around the world, probing for similar copycat effects, examining 98 suicides by celebrities.

 

 

 

The team of authors, led by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler,  King-wa Fu, Paul Yip, Daniel Fong, Steven Stack, Qijin Cheng and Jane Pirkis, report a change in suicide rates of on average roughly almost three suicides per 1000 000 population, in the month after a celebrity suicide across the world.

 

 

 

Extrapolating from these figures, the worse case scenario would be an additional almost 200 suicides over the next month, in the UK, with approaching 1000 in the USA. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but these non-celebrity suicides are unlikely to make the headlines.

 

 

 

 

 

The study, published in the ‘Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health’, report suicides by an ‘entertainment celebrity’, across the planet, had the greatest impact of all in Europe, in terms of copycat incidents, followed by a slightly smaller impact in the USA.

 

 

 

The authors based at the Universities of Vienna, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Wayne State, found a particular celebrity impact on copycat behaviour by entertainment celebrities, as opposed to other prominent people, such as politicians.

 

 

 

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and co-authors argue the suicide of an entertainment celebrity is so influential perhaps because of audience identification.

 

 

 

Celebrities are revered and may therefore act as particularly strong role models even when it comes to taking their own lives.

 

 

 

Guidelines for media reporting of suicide include that detailed discussion of the particular method should be avoided, and as images of the death scene are highly influential, these should not be broadcast. For details see http://www.samaritans.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/files/press/Samaritans%20Media%20Guidelines%202013%20UK.pdf. These and similar links may be of special interest for journalists reporting about suicides

 

 

 

But by writing this article are we ourselves violating the media guidelines? Not so, we contend, because the recommendations do not say there should be no media reporting, but that it should be sober and responsible.

 

 

 

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler points out that not all celebrity suicide reporting is associated with increases in suicides subsequently. This is exemplified by the suicide of Rock Star Kurt Cobain. His suicide was widely reported, but there was no copycat phenomenon afterwards, Dr Thomas Niederkrotenthaler maintains.

 

 

 

This may be due to Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, expressing both her sadness and anger about her far too early loss, in the media, and contacts to support services were published, along with her statements, immediately after his suicide. Indeed, research showed that these mental health services experienced an increase in clients, but there was no upsurge in suicides.

 

 

 

Perhaps the celebrity obsession of the media is in fact a reflection of a deeper problem with journalism, of which suicide reporting is merely a symptom. Reporting of celebrities lives in general tends to remain somewhat naïve. Being rich and famous, according to the classic simplistic media analysis, inoculates against any serious psychological problems.

 

 

 

In a study entitled ‘Psychological strains found in the suicides of 72 celebrities’, the tensions experienced throughout the lives of 72 celebrities were systematically investigated.

 

 

 

The authors, Jie Zhang, Jiandan Tan and David Lester found of 72 ‘celebrity’ suicides, only one had no ‘strains’ at all.

 

 

 

 

 

The authors, from Shandong University School of Public Health and Central University of Finance and Economics, China, and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, USA, found the most common pressure was ‘aspiration strain’ – found in 97% of the lives of celebrities who kill themselves.

 

 

 

‘Aspiration strain’ was defined in this study, published in the ‘Journal  of Affective Disorders’, as a gap between an individual’s aspiration and the reality of their life. For example, wishing to be much richer than you actually are.

 

 

 

The study found 30 celebrities who killed themselves suffered at least two contrasting life strains, while 36 had endured three different ‘strains’.

 

 

 

Perhaps the take home message should be that despairing sadness may happen to anyone, irrespective of fame or wealth.

 

 

 

But what many people still do not know is that depression, and also other mental health problems, including personal crises, can be treated, and that there is help available.

 

 

 

That should be the headline story.

 

 

 

Follow Dr Raj Persaud on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@DrRajPersaud

 

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article you may find the following of help: Samaritans Helpline: 08457 90 90 90 http://www.samaritans.org

 

 

If you are a psychiatrist, or a similar clinical professional who is collecting Continuing Professional Development Points, after listening to this podcast and podcasts like this, it is possible to visit the Royal College of Psychiatrists CPD web site, and after completing some questions (plus registering with the site), gain CPD points on-line.

 

Raj Persaud is now joint podcast editor for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and also now has a free app on iTunes and google play store entitled 'Raj Persaud in conversation', which includes a lot of free information on the latest research findings in mental health, plus interviews with top experts from around the world.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rajpersaud.android.rajpersaud

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dr-raj-persaud-in-conversation/id927466223?mt=8