TV may 'inadvertantly encourage suicide'

writers have one responsibility: to tell a compelling story.

Ozzy can finally rest easy.

If they keep putting crap on like 'Dancing with the Stars', I might off myself.

Naw. I'll just read a book.

The fact is, there are impressionable people out there. Always have been, always will be. Something on tv might push them to off themselves, but so might some mean comment a person says at school/work. You never know. Should we go after people who make flippant, possibly harmful comments too?

William Haskins said:

writers have one responsibility: to tell a compelling story.

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Dang Hank, I'd agreed again in trice a month.

Joe270 said:

If they keep putting crap on like 'Dancing with the Stars', I might off myself.

Naw. I'll just read a book.

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And that's a good thing and a good thing if you think about it from a writers pov.

The parliamentary secretary for Health and Ageing, Senator Brett Mason, this week announced $317,000 funding to help fund workshops, print and online resources for scriptwriters.

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Woo hoo !

I'm not sure anything will come of this, but it will be interesting to see.

I suspect it is one of those ... announced $X of funding [over the next decade, including existing funding streams, which means an addition of only $1k per year] but it sounds good.

Mac

And those damn cookie commercials are inadvertantly encouraging obesity.

Mac H. said:

Woo hoo !

I'm not sure anything will come of this, but it will be interesting to see.

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note: write sensationalized t.v. drama script that misrepresents the mentally ill and openly encourages suicide and get some tasty research dough.

think if i just encourage ya'll to commit suicide they'll research dough me?

Well, I've looked into it, and the funding that was announced 'this week' turns out to be existing funding and has already been spent. It was just a political announcement rather than having a basis in reality.

On the other hand, they produced a website to educate writers (etc) about mental health issues. It is here: http://www.mindframe-media.info

They mention a US study which found a significant increase in the number of suicides immediately following soap opera stories in which there was a suicide theme. (Reference below)

Interesting subject area. It was a shame that the politician (Senator Brett Mason) chose to take the weasel politician option of announce funding for a project that was basically over, instead of helping the issue by announcing the RESULTS that his funding obtained.

They also make the point that using that latest figures available: (2005)

* The age-standardised suicide rate for total males (16.4 per 100,000) was lower than in any year in the previous decade (1995-2005).
* The age standardised suicide rate for total females (4.3 per 100,000) was also lower than in any year in the previous decade (1995-2005).

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Mac
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Ref: Phillips, D. P. (1982). The impact of fictional television

stories on US adult fatalities: New evidence of the effect of
the mass media on violence.​

​

87, 1340-1359.
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If someone's determined to peg it, they'll find a way. At the very, very most, the media would give them an idea of how to do it...but wouldn't put the idea in their head to start with. No-one's stupid enough to think, "Ooh! Someone topped themselves on Eastenders the other night - that looks like fun!"

scarletpeaches said:

At the very, very most, the media would give them an idea of how to do it...but wouldn't put the idea in their head to start with. No-one's stupid enough to think, "Ooh! Someone topped themselves on Eastenders the other night - that looks like fun!"

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It would be nice if that were true.

However, the entertainment industry makes millions in product placement every year by claiming that average people are influenced by seeing a fleeting glimpse of a product on TV! So how could it be possible that an entire plotline of a show would fail to influence behaviour on people who are emotionally unstable?

It seems bizarre that a slight chemical imbalance in the brain can make people decide to that killing themselves is an entirely rational behaviour, but it is true.

Given that truth, surely there is nothing unexpected in the idea that product placement on TV would influence their behaviour.

The simple fact is that the suicide rate when up after suicide was featured in an episode of 'Eastenders'. Your argument seems to assume that those additional people who attemped suicide did it because they were 'stupid'. Clearly that is false.

As to whether the affect of TV on suicides is real or not .. thankfully people have taken the time and effort to do studies to find out the truth, rather than just dismissing it as an affect that could only influence 'stupid' people.

See here for details: http://www.mindframe-media.info/client_images/355609.pdf

Mac

Oh dear. *sigh*

I did NOT say people who commit suicide are stupid.

I said NO-ONE IS STUPID ENOUGH TO COMMIT SUICIDE BASED ON AN EASTENDERS CHARACTER DOING SO.

Regarding product placement - I don't believe for one moment anyone would commit suicide based solely on a television programme. It has far more long-term ramifications than thinking, "Ooh, there's a new chocolate bar on the market - I must try that!"

Oh, and thanks for the patronising negative rep point comment. If I offended you so much with what I said you could have either PM'd me or reported my post.

I already happen to know from experience with myself and others what causes suicidal thoughts, thank you very much.

I think there isn't enough conflict on this subject. Add a reality tv show about the mentally ill to the mix and call me in the morning.

No-one is claiming that people have chosen to commit suicide SOLELY on seeing it done on TV.

To use your Eastenders example, though, the simple fact is that several studies across different hospitals in the UK showed that cases of deliberate self-poisoning went UP after the Eastenders showed a character doing it. It wasn't replicated in all areas, but it certainly was more than simple random variations.

I'm sorry that you are offended by my negative reaction to your comments, and I appreciate that you know 'what causes suicidal thoughts'. I respectfully suggest, however, that neither of us know what causes suicidal thoughts in all cases.

You say that seeing it on TV 'wouldn't put the idea in their head to start with'. However I know of at at least one case where it did.

Thankfully they failed and their medication has been balanced so they don't aren't as suspectible to those ideas anymore ... but seeing it on TV honestly did put the idea in their head.

We can agree that a chemical imbalance made them susceptible to that particular idea, but just like watching food on TV can trigger the idea "Let's have dinner" to someone who is hungry, the idea of self-killing was triggered by watching something on TV .. even if they were previously 'hungry' (but unaware of it).

Mac

Exactly. There was a pre-existing 'hunger', to use your word, to be...not around any more.

Now, to use your poisoning example. I believe those people would have killed themselves anyway. The TV would have put the method in their mind, but not the idea that 'suicide is a good idea'.

And of course NO-ONE knows what causes suicidal thoughts in all cases. Even you. What I am saying is, is that it's such a huge issue, it wouldn't have as its sole cause, a rather badly-acted soap with plummeting ratings.

If someone can't see the way out - well. They clearly need help and I sincerely hope they find it.

BUT - let's assume we have a viewer who is doing okay. Happy, life's going well. They watch the same TV show and don't consider suicide. It just goes to show it's not the TV programme that causes the suicide. It couldn't make someone who doesn't have a pre-existing tendency to self-harm kill themselves because the inclination just isn't in them.

The strange thing is, in my case, I like to read about mental illnesses, in particular depression and bipolar disorder. It's like autopsying something. Once I see what its components are, it loses its power. So far, anyway.

I believe those people would have killed themselves anyway.

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Let's assume that you are right.

That means we have the following three facts:

1. These people would have killed themselves at a later date IF THEY REMAINED UNTREATED.

2. If these people had gotten treatment, there is a chance that they could have stopped this 'hunger'.

3. If they remain alive longer, there is a chance that at least one of them would have gotten treatment.

Surely the only logical conclusion is that anything which can influence them to take the irreversible action before getting treated will increase the death rate?

Whether this logic is right or wrong, can't we agree that it is an area that deserves looking at the real-world figures, rather than going by what we think the results should logically be? After all, this is an area that we know doesn't involve 'logical' behaviour.

Mac