Le cause che possono originare un tentativo di suicidio sono molto complesse. Tra le diverse spiegazioni, alcuni studi hanno dimostrato l’esistenza di un fenomeno noto come effetto “copycat”, connesso alla componente emulativa. Questo fenomeno va considerato come una forma di contagio sociale, che può portare un soggetto a rischio a mettere in atto tale gesto. Ciò ha dato origine a un concetto noto in letteratura come effetto Werther, termine con cui ci si riferisce al fenomeno per cui la notizia di un suicidio riportata dai media provoca una catena di altri suicidi.
Più di 100 studi internazionali hanno dimostrato che il rischio di contagio è un fenomeno rilevante e che riportare le informazioni in modo responsabile riduce il rischio di diffusione del fenomeno suicidario. Le ricerche hanno inoltre evidenziato che la durata, la frequenza e la rilevanza con cui una notizia di suicidio viene riportata dai media possono influenzare il rischio di un contagio di suicidio
Qui di seguito alcuni tra i più significativi testi sull’argomento.
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- Till B, Tran US, Niederkrotenthaler T. The Impact of Educative News Articles about Suicide Prevention: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Health Commun. 2021 Dec;36(14):2022-2029. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1813953. Epub 2020 Sep 1. PMID: 32867541.
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