“Werther effect” – Media, a potential preventive tool for suicidal behaviour

Soumya P Thomas; Sheena Varughese; Roy Abraham Kallivayalil

doi:10.30834/KJP.33.2.2020.207

Authors

Soumya P Thomas Senior resident, Department of Psychiatry, PushpagiriMedical College & Research Centre Thiruvalla
Sheena Varughese Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, PushpagiriMedical College & Research Centre Thiruvalla
RA Kallivayalil Professor & Head, Department of Psychiatry, PushpagiriMedical College & Research Centre Thiruvalla

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30834/KJP.33.2.2020.207

Keywords:

Werther effect, suicide, social media

Abstract

Suicide, with all its psychosocial impacts, is a major public health problem and needs prompt preventive approaches considering its increasing magnitude. In this era of the internet, people started to rely more on data available at their fingertips than the print media. And this is the time to apply the knowledge we had gained of print media reporting on suicide (its limitations and possibilities) to online media. This article tries to bring attention to some of the recommendations for media reporting on suicide and the need for researches based on the online media platform.

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