Comments on: Did 13 Reasons Spark A Spike In Suicides? https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/07/31/did-13-reasons-spark-a-spike-in-suicides/ Thu, 13 Jun 2019 18:58:57 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/07/31/did-13-reasons-spark-a-spike-in-suicides/#comment-772921 Thu, 13 Jun 2019 18:58:57 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=24349#comment-772921 In reply to RickA.

As a libertarian I am in favor of adults, of sound mind, being able to decide whether they wish to live or not (especially if they are terminally ill). So I find this trend (now several states allow this) interesting.

Fixed it for you.

As a libertarian I have no regard for the lives and well-being of people who are not white or well-off, so if a charlatan or other quack wants to take their money and cheat them out of a chance of being healthy I’m all for it. I’ll even support the removal of their rights to seek compensation for their being wronged, because those people don’t deserve to live here in the first place.

Just punched it up to represent your true self.

]]> By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/07/31/did-13-reasons-spark-a-spike-in-suicides/#comment-772920 Thu, 13 Jun 2019 18:56:24 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=24349#comment-772920 The Bridge study used data from the CDC, and it found a 29% rise in the suicide rate in April of 2017, and a general rise over the next few months. However, the rise was significant in boys aged 18 and younger, not in girls, not in adults. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are hesitant to link the spike in the rate for boys to the show, given that the show’s emphasis wasn’t on young boys.

A study (waiting to be published) from S. Stack (and others) at Wayne State tracked the attention the show received on Twitter in April/May 2017 and tracked US suicide rates during that time. They found that
– for boys at 10 to 19 there was a 12.4% increase in the rate of suicide
– for girls in that age group the rise in suicide rate was 21.7%

Daniel Romer (University of Pennsylvania) surveyed several hundred (750-ish, if I remember correctly) aged 19 to 29 before the 2nd season aired, and again one month after the show was released. He looked at their risk of self-harm. The people who didn’t finish watching the entire season had a slightly higher risk of suicide, and less personal optimism, than those who watched all the way through the season. He also found that the people who finished the season shows lower levels of self-harm than those who didn’t. (His suggestion for the explanation, which he admits is all it is, is that the end of the series shows a character successfully coping with several challenges.)

The Bridge study is interesting, but hardly conclusive. Suicide rates in general increased for young adults aged 15 to 24 in 2017, and the rates tend to spike during the spring (I don’t believe there are any explanations for that). On its own it doesn’t provide enough evidence to show (IMO) that this show was the cause of the 2017 spike.

]]> By: RickA https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/07/31/did-13-reasons-spark-a-spike-in-suicides/#comment-772865 Thu, 13 Jun 2019 14:55:18 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=24349#comment-772865 Here is some interesting news:

https://hotair.com/archives/2019/06/13/maine-approves-assisted-suicide/

As a libertarian I am in favor of adults, of sound mind, being able to decide whether they wish to live or not (especially if they are terminally ill). So I find this trend (now several states allow this) interesting.

People should have more control over their medical treatments, for example the ability to try non-FDA approved drugs and treatments, with informed consent, and end-of-life management, such as assisted suicide.

So hopefully this law will cause more conversation about this difficult topic.

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