
Increase in suicides the months after the death of Robin Williams in the US - DanBC
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191405
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jf
A list of suicide hotlines are available here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/wiki/hotlines](https://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/wiki/hotlines)

Here are the numbers for the United States:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) Veterans press 1
to reach specialised support.

Online Chat:
[http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineCh...](http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineChat.aspx)

Crisis Text Line: Text "START" to 741-741

Youth-Specific services (voice/text/chat/email) from the Boys' Town National
Hotline: [http://www.yourlifeyourvoice.org/Pages/ways-to-get-
help.aspx](http://www.yourlifeyourvoice.org/Pages/ways-to-get-help.aspx)

Spanish: 1-800-SUICIDA

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robocat
Auto "accidents” also increase:

Three days after a publicized suicide, automobile fatalities increase by 31%.
The more the suicide is publicized, the more the automobile fatalies increase.

From abstract of
[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2778220](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2778220)

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anateus
This is often called the Werther Effect. It may be interesting to look at the
inverse as well:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18082110](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18082110)
i.e. a policy prohibiting publicizing suicides seems to correlate with a
decrease in suicides.

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mindFilet
_Fun Fact:_ active shooter incidents (often spree-killings, culminating in
suicide, capital punshment or life in prison) are still sensationalized,
despite an awareness of this general principle being readily acknowleged. Is
the viewer response just _too_ lucrative?

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btown
It’s more of a multi-party Prisoner’s Dilemma - there is no way to enforce an
embargo, significant penalties to an “old school” news organization not
sharing all the information that the hungry can’t-afford-to-be-ethical outfits
will likely publish, and vice versa.

An industry organization or regulatory body that could enforce adding language
encouraging sensitive viewers to seek counseling may be the only sustainable
band-aid here.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Social media made it ultimately futile anyway. It's incredibly hard to
coordinate every possible news outlet. Now try and coordinate every possible
Twitter user in the area.

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bitwize
These results are not surprising. Until I was able to contextualize his
suicide with respect to Lewy body dementia and the symptoms thereof, the death
of Robin Williams _really_ got to me and made me feel lower than I had in
years. I am still incredibly saddened that he's not around, but again, I am
better able to put it in context.

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lomnakkus
Most types of rapid or early-onset dementia are just devastating to _everyone_
\-- you, those you love, and those who love you -- and if you know that _that_
is going to happen to you and 'bystanders'... Well, there are no _good_
choices, but I think I think his choice is pretty understandable, honestly.

(Also very saddened by his death, FWIW.)

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arca_vorago
Not really about the story, but I met Robin one time, and he was so friendly
everyone around him was happier for it. It's almost like he felt it was his
duty to help others not feel like he felt inside.

He signed a football John Elway threw to me while I was on a roof watching the
show (USO), and I still have that football. (Also signed by Elway and Leeann
Tweeden)

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cjbprime
The effect size isn't large, and the potential cofounding correlations are
infinite. This doesn't seem like a good study.

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yesenadam
I voted you up, then saw Fig 2 and changed my mind. Looks fairly large. Sure,
might be chance, but looks like a pretty large effect to me, not sure what
you'd call large if that isn't. [<\-- highly scientific comment]

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ggg9990
Celebrity culture gone way too far.

