In Mozart's The Magic Flute, one of the main characters, Papageno, has planned his suicide but manages to save his life thanks to three children who dissuade him by showing him that he has alternatives and reasons to continue living. In Goethe's romantic novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, the protagonist takes his own life because of unrequited love.
These two characters have been used by specialists to name the two types of impact that news about suicides can have: the Papageno effect (which prevents and helps to avoid suicidal behaviour) and the Werther effect (which can cause contagion). It was collected in 2015 by a detailed study by the Spanish Association of Neuropsychiatry, which in its conclusions regretted that in Spain there was no guide "specifically aimed at media professionals".
The ANAR Foundation, a reference center for the protection and assistance of children and adolescents, has recalled the recommendations of the WHO in this regard after the commotion generated by the suicide in Sallent (Barcelona) of a 12-year-old girl and the serious injuries for the attempt of his twin sister. The case has once again raised the alarm about the mental health of young people, more threatened than ever by the effect of the pandemic and social networks.
Benjamín Ballesteros, ANAR's program director, considers it positive that the taboo on suicide has been broken in the media, but stresses that the way we report is crucial to "saving lives." Avoid that the news "justify" or give a "romantic" vision of suicide as a possible "solution" to a problem, not reveal the method used so as not to contribute to its replication or focus on the underlying problem instead of the circumstances specific to a case are some of them.
Ballesteros places special emphasis on the importance of not attributing a single reason to a suicide, since "it is always multi-causal". Determining a single reason can lead people suffering from the same situation to identify with this "irrational" decision. This does not mean, he clarifies, that there are not more vulnerable groups, among which apparently was the minor who died in Sallent.
It is also essential, he continues, to do positive journalism, that provides solutions, that explains how to detect and prevent suicidal behavior and that collects examples of people who have overcome it.
In short, the media must inform and raise awareness, and at the same time emulate the children of The Magic Flute who showed Papageno that, despite his despair, there was a way out and he had a life ahead of him that deserved to be lived.
