Are Celebrity Suicides 'Contagious' Among Regular Folk?

• August 1, 2024
• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Celebrity suicides seem to be contagious, prompting everyday folks to consider the same, a new study suggests.

The 2014 suicide death of comedian Robin Williams caused a thousand-fold increase in the risk of suicidal thoughts, reflected in a spike in calls to what was then the equivalent of the current 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, researchers found.

A similar but less intense response occurred in 2018 following the suicide deaths days apart of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, results showed.

A spike in calls to crisis lines that was roughly half of that following Williams’ death occurred after Spade and Bourdain died, researchers found.

“The model we developed shows how suicide contagion, including both suicidal ideation and deaths, spreads quickly following the suicide deaths of celebrities whose lives and work are known and likely meaningful to large portions of the population,” said researcher Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

No single factor causes suicidal thoughts or actions, but researchers have long thought that social processes can cause suicide to be “contagious.”

People close to or familiar with people who have considered or attempted suicide can become more suicidal themselves, the theory goes.

Suicide rates in the United States increased 37% between 2000 and 2018, declined 5% between 2018 and 2020, and then returned to their peak in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For this study, researchers compared total weekly calls to the crisis line and federal suicide death data before and after the three celebrity deaths.

Comparing the 2014 and 2018 events, researchers found that excess suicide deaths following Williams’ death was approximately double. This could be due to differences in the way the suicide events were covered in the media, researchers said.

Overall, the increased rates of suicide contagion lasted about two weeks before crisis line calls and suicide deaths returned to normal levels, results show.

Researchers hope to use such data to help prevent future suicides following a celebrity death.

“Ultimately, our aim is to work toward a point where a suicide contagion model can inform a rapid response geared at preventing suicide,” researcher Katherine Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, said in a university news release.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, expert and confidential advice is available 24/7 on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

The new study was published July 31 in the journal Science Advances.

More information

The National Institute of Mental Health has more about suicide.

SOURCE: Columbia University, news release, July 31, 2024

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