Werther Effect: What It Is And How It Is Related To Chain Suicides
Suicide is one of the most frequent forms of death and is in first position in prevalence among unnatural ones. Taking one’s own life involves an act in which the person actively seeks his own destruction, a search generally derived from deep psychological and/or physical suffering.
But this act not only has an effect on the person who commits suicide but, similarly to other phenomena, it can generate a call effect that leads other vulnerable people to try to commit the same act. This is what is called the Werther effect
The phenomenon by which the observation or notification of one person’s suicide leads another to try to imitate said death is called the Werther effect. Also known as the copycat effect, it is a problem that has become epidemic in some cases leading to mass suicides.
We are faced with an imitation behavior that usually occurs in a population at risk who see suicide as a way to free themselves from suffering and who, upon observing one or more cases with characteristics similar to their own, may think about taking their own life. It is possible that the figure of the suicide or the act of suicide itself is idealized, or that the information available on the case in question suggests this as a course of action.
In general, the Werther effect can occur with any news of suicide, but it is much more evident when the death in question is that of a person who is especially important or admired by a large number of people. Clear examples were the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Kurt Cobain However, in this last case the number of deaths was lower than expected, it is speculated that this was probably due to the difficulty involved in the method used by the singer.
At a more private level, suicide attempts and/or completed suicides by close family members and especially if they were a reference figure, pose a risk for other individuals in the environment to think or even imitate the suicidal act. This is why it is more than advisable to work on this risk directly with the families of people who have completed suicide on a psychological level.
Regarding the population that can be most easily affected by this effect, it has been observed that as a general rule The younger population tends to be more influenced, especially if they are in situations of risk of social exclusion. Likewise, another aspect that has been observed to be of great importance is the treatment given to the information: if suicide is seen and reflected as something shocking and sensational, generating deep emotions, this can cause other people to also seek to generate these sensations. in others through such means.
Likewise, it has been observed that cases of suicide by strange means but relatively simple to carry out tend to be more striking and imitated. And imitation usually occurs not only in the act of committing suicide but also in the methodology used. Also the level of detail and information regarding the case in question and the explanation of the methods used seem to facilitate more attempts at imitation by other people.
Origin of the term and relationship with suicide
The Werther effect is named after the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, in which the protagonist (Werther) ends his own life after being in love for many years with Lotte, a married woman who cannot reciprocate him. The publication of this novel in 1774 was a great commercial success, being the equivalent of a current bestseller, but the authorities observed that many young people committed suicide in a similar way to the protagonist shortly after.
In 1974, sociologist David Phillips would carry out a study in which he observed that The number of suicides increased due to the publication of news related to this topic going on to name this effect as the Werther effect.
The Papageno effect
Throughout this article we have been able to see how the processing of information regarding a completed suicide can, in fact, lead to the generation of an imitation effect in other people. However, fortunately we can also find an effect that we could consider opposite: the Papageno effect,
This effect occurs when the information transmitted does not focus so much on the fact of suicide but on the existence of alternatives. With Papageno effect we refer to that situation in which The exposure to information has been about people who have gotten ahead despite living in adverse situations similar to those that the person at risk may be experiencing, or even to cases of non-fatal suicide attempts in which the subject has found other ways to end their suffering without resorting to self-inflicted death.
This generates the visualization of alternatives to suicide and examples of improvement that can persuade people at risk to try to take the same path. The name of the effect comes from a famous character from the Magic Flute, who precisely aborts a suicide attempt when three spirits make him think of alternatives.
Final consideration: the importance of working on prevention
All of the above should make us see the great importance of working on suicide prevention from many different areas. We must ensure that suicide is not seen as a desirable or shocking alternative but as something to be avoided, and we must invest in prevention at school and in the media, based on the observation of different ways of facing difficulties.
Regarding the informative or journalistic level, it is worth highlighting the need to give as little information as possible about the event in question but without making this action a simple fact, avoiding morbid elements and sensationalist treatment.
While it may seem obvious, Suicide should never be idealized or presented as something romantic or as a means to achieve objectives. It could also be useful to present in the same news possible help mechanisms or alternatives for action for people in the same situation, or testimonies of cases in which alternatives to suicide have been found.
