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The popular Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” focuses on the suicide of a teenager who leaves a recorded diary for her peers, detailing the thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Each tape is addressed to a person at her school and details their involvement in her suicide.
Suicide prevention professionals have raised strong concerns about the series. The National Association of School Psychologists released a statement reading, in part, "Research shows that exposure to another person's suicide, or to graphic or sensationalized accounts of death, can be one of the many risk factors that youth struggling with mental health conditions cite as a reason they contemplate or attempt suicide.”
It is important to engage youth in conversations about suicide. However, experts agree that, when the topic of suicide is broached in problematic ways, there is a real risk of triggering suicidal behavior in youth who are already vulnerable—those who are struggling with significant mental health problems and who are already at risk for suicide. A media treatment of suicide can trigger suicidal behavior by focusing on the emotional reactions of survivors. In the series, the victim’s peers are being told, in the tapes, how they provided reasons for the victim to kill herself. It encourages the survivors—the friends and family members of suicide victims—to blame themselves.
Suicide is complex and there are never simple answers to why someone would take their own life. “13 Reasons Why” leads viewers to believe that the behavior of the victim’s peers caused her suicide, but offers nothing for young viewers to learn about what they should do if a peer is struggling with mental illness or suicidal feelings.
Only a small minority of people, including teenagers, who struggle with suicidal feelings will attempt suicide. Still fewer will die by suicide. In many cases, that will be because they got help. The series does nothing to encourage people with suicidal feelings to seek help. Imagine the good that could be done by a TV show on youth suicide in which the teen turns to an adult who then supports and helps the young person seek help.
Parents should consider these key points.
- The series graphically depicts rape, bullying and suicide. It is entirely inappropriate for pre-teens or young teens.
- Experts agree that the way the series treats the topic of youth suicide could do more harm than good. The harm includes the possibility of triggering suicidal behavior in already troubled youth.
- If your child or teen has watched the series, parents should initiate conversations about it to process the young person’s reactions and feelings.
- Help is available. Call your child’s pediatrician for a referral to a mental health professional. Contact the Crisis Center at 323-7777. If you find yourself in a crisis with your teenager and worry that he or she may self-harm, call 911 or take your child to the emergency department at the nearest hospital.
We can only hope that at some young people will seek help after watching the program. If they do, it will be because of the strength present in those young people, and not because of the series itself.
Dale Wisely, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and is Director of Student Services at Mountain Brook Schools. He is a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the Crisis Center.
