According to the findings of a recent study, widespread public awareness of American hip hop artist Logic’s song “1-800-273-8255” links to an increase in calls to the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and a decrease in suicides in the US.
The Christmas issue of The BMJ published the study findings. They demonstrate the protective effect of positive media stories about suicidal thoughts and help-seeking behavior. Also, particularly for groups that are hard to reach with traditional messaging, say the researchers.
There is clear evidence that media reports of suicide can trigger further suicides. But less is known about the protective effects of reports of hope and recovery. Mainly because they receive much fewer media coverage than stories of a suicide death.
One exception was in April 2017, when the American hip hop artist Logic released his song ‘1-800-273-8255’. It prominently features the number of the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
The song depicts someone in a suicide crisis dialing the helpline. It represents a turning point in their recovery and mastery of their situation.
The song peaked at number three on the Billboard charts in the United States. Also, it was performed at the 2017 MTV Music Awards and the 2018 Grammy Awards, garnering widespread notice.
6.9% increase in calls
Researchers led by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler of the Medical University of Vienna looked at the links between Logic’s song and daily calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number and daily suicides in the United States to see if the song’s positive message linked to a change in behavior.
Using Twitter posts to estimate audience attention over a month, they discovered that there were an additional 9,915 calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the 34 days following the three events with the most public attention (the song’s release, the MTV Video Music Awards 2017, and the Grammy Awards 2018). It is a 6.9% increase over the expected number.
During the same time, there were 245 suicides, or 5.5 percent fewer than projected.
Because this is an observational study, it is impossible to determine the cause, and the researchers acknowledge several limitations. For example, it’s unclear if the music had any lasting impacts outside of peak attention moments. Social media data may not accurately reflect how many people listened to it.
However, they were able to control for several potentially important factors, and the results remained virtually unaltered after additional analysis.
Impactful stories
As such, they say these findings “emphasize the potential population health benefits of working creatively and innovatively with other sectors, such as the music and entertainment industries, to promote new impactful stories of help-seeking that resonate with broad audiences, leave a visible footprint on social media, and are safe in terms of not featuring potentially lethal actions but rather coping and mastery of crisis.”
“Interventions that follow these principles could help create behavioral change to increase help-seeking and prevent suicide,” they add.
The Papageno effect is the hypothesis that media stories of someone overcoming a suicidal crisis are protective against suicide. This study supports it, argues Alexandra Pitman of University College London in a linked editorial.
She believes more research is in need to better understand the intervention’s likely mechanism of effect. But she applauds significant cultural influencers’ dedication “to help amplify public health interventions intended to strengthen protection against suicide in specific vulnerable groups.”