13 Reasons Why creator is wrong to credit his show for having a "positive impact" on deterring suicide

Slate

In a Hollywood Reporter Op-Ed this week, Showrunner Brian Yorkey and his psychiatrist consultant Rebecca Hedrick countered recent studies connecting the Netflix teen series with an increase in suicide rate by pointing out research that say the show actually had a positive impact in suicide awareness. "But it’s too simplistic to argue that flinging any depiction of suicide into the world counts as starting a positive conversation," says Shannon Palus. "Instead, we need to acknowledge that the show offers a mess off “complex trade-offs,” as the authors of a JAMA Psychiatry editorial that ran alongside the most recent paper explain. Trying to precisely calculate what those trade-offs are, and whether they present a net positive or a net negative, will be extremely hard. For one thing, it’s nearly impossible to prove any direct relationships between suicide rate and watching 13 Reasons Why because it’s nearly impossible to place blame squarely anywhere after a suicide."