Papageno Effect Research Articles

Assessing the quality of suicide reporting in Portugal: 6 case studies of celebrities and non-celebrities over 25 years

Multiple studies from various countries have found evidence of suicide increases after media reports of suicide, which are known as the Werther effect, but responsible suicide reporting can contribute to suicide prevention, a phenomenon known as the Papageno effect. This study aims to assess adherence by the Portuguese media to the suicide reporting guidelines released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and to determine whether there are differences in reporting style between them and over time. News items about six suicides of public and non-public figures between 1996 and 2020 were collected from several Portuguese media—two newspapers, three radio stations, three television channels, and a few websites—in the periods following those deaths, and they were subsequently examined for adherence to the WHO guidelines. A total of 374 news items were analyzed. The majority of them complied with most of the WHO recommendations for suicide reporting, especially the ‘don’t do’ guidelines. However, most of the news items that were analyzed did not follow the recommendations regarding putatively preventive information, notably the inclusion of support contacts and citation of mental health experts. The Portuguese media mostly adhered to the WHO suicide reporting guidelines and there was a positive evolution over time in the level of compliance with them. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement.

Werther or Papageno? Examining the effects of news reports of celebrity suicide versus non-celebrity peer suicide on intentions to seek help among vulnerable young adults.

A large body of literature has examined the Werther effect following news reports of suicide, yet much less attention has been paid to the protective Papageno effect. This research explored the causal relationships between news reports of real celebrity suicides (e.g., pop-rock star Chester Bennington) and real non-celebrity "peer" suicides (e.g., college student Madison Holleran) and intentions to seek help. Two survey experiments confirmed successful experimental manipulation (N = 280) and tested behavioral theory, clinical indicators, and intentions to seek help (N = 641) in samples of college students (18-25). Participants were motivated to seek help if they believed it could lead to positive outcomes, yet this was less likely among participants with depression. Exposure to news reports of non-celebrity suicides had a small positive effect on help-seeking intentions. Among participants with depression, news reports of celebrity suicides had a small positive effect on intentions. This research could not establish Werther effects for either of the news reports. Exposure to news reports of non-celebrity suicides had a small positive effect on intentions overall, but young adults with higher levels of depression were slightly more motivated to seek help after viewing news reports of celebrity suicides.

Canadian news media coverage of suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to concerns about increases in suicidal behaviour. Research indicates that certain types of media coverage of suicide may help reduce suicidality (the Papageno effect), while other types may increase suicidality (the Werther effect). This study aimed to examine the tone and content of Canadian news articles about suicide during the first year of the pandemic. Articles about suicide from Canadian news sources were collected and coded for adherence to responsible reporting of suicide guidelines. Articles which directly discussed suicidal behaviour in the COVID-19 context were identified and compared to other suicide articles in the same period. Lastly, a thematic analysis was conducted on the sub-sample of articles discussing suicide in the COVID-19 context. The sub-set of articles about suicide in the COVID-19 context (n = 103) contained significantly more putatively helpful content compared to non-COVID-19 articles (n = 457), such as including help information (56.3% Vs 23.6%), quoting an expert (68.0% Vs 16.8%) and educating about suicide (73.8% Vs 24.9%). This lower adherence among non-COVID-19 articles is concerning as they comprised over 80% of the sample. On the plus side, fewer than 10% of all articles provided monocausal, glamourized or sensational accounts of suicide. Qualitative analysis revealed the following three themes: (i) describing the epidemiology of suicidal behaviour; (ii) discussing self and communal care; and (iii) bringing attention to gaps in mental health care. Media articles about suicide during the first year of the pandemic showed partial adherence to responsible reporting of suicide guidelines, with room for improvement.

Pity the Fool: Satire, Sentiment, and Aristocratic Vice in George Colman’s The Suicide

The Suicide, A Comedy (1778) by George Colman (the Elder) is a sophisticated comedic response to the scourge of fashionable suicide in late eighteenth-century Britain. The play simultaneously operates on two comedic planes: (1) it aims the purgative power of contemptible and socially aversive satire at the bon-ton by insinuating the scandalous suicide of high-profile aristocrat John Damer (1744–76); and (2) the reformation of Tobine—the middle-class protagonist who aspires to fashionable self-destruction—invests in the socially rehabilitative and compassionate humour of sentimental comedy. Two comedic strategies are aimed at two different audiences, with both strategies working to reinforce middle-class values. The result is a comedy that merges two kinds of laughter to form a benign affective antidote to interclass suicidal contagion. This comedic antidote functions as an early demonstration of the positive value of narratives that depict the overcoming of suicidal intent—or what modern sociologists call the Papageno effect.

Connect Corner: Papageno Effect in Media: Fails and Triumphs

When the movie All the Bright Places (2020)1 (based on Jennifer Niven’s 2015 book of the same name) opened with a young man convincing a young woman to step down from the side of a bridge, effectively halting her suicide attempt, I had hoped that this would be the modern-day Papageno effect storyline that we all have been waiting for, but unfortunately, it was not. Papageno, a character in Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, contemplated suicide when he realized that he had lost his love. Three spirits remind him of alternatives, and he does not die by suicide. The perpetuation of similar storylines is thought to be suicide-protective.2 While Violet Markey from All the Bright Places was offered the nonsuicidal alternative to dealing with the anniversary of her sister’s death and birthday (engaging in a friendship/romance with classmate Theodore Finch), in the end there is no such alternative for Finch as he deals with complex psychological sequelae from abuse in early childhood.

A Short Media Training Session Is Effective in Reinforcing Psychiatrists' Communication Skills About Suicide.

Because it has been associated with significant increases [through the Werther Effect (WE)] or decreases [through the Papageno Effect (PE)] of suicide rates, media coverage of suicide-related events is recognized as a prevention leverage. Unfortunately, the recommendations that the World Health Organization (WHO) has published to help journalists reporting on suicide remain poorly applied. The Mini Media Training (MMT) is a short media training session designed to increase psychiatrists’ ability to communicate about suicide during interviews. We aimed at assessing the effect of the MMT on psychiatrists’ ability to help journalists complying with the WHO recommendations. From June 2017 to December 2019, 173 physicians and residents in psychiatry were recruited during French national congresses. At baseline (T0) and 1 and 3 months later (T1), participants received the MMT, which consisted in a simulated interview where they we asked to answer a journalist about a mock suicide. Communication skills were measured with a score summing the number of delivered pieces of advice in relation to the WHO recommendations, with a maximum score of 33. A weighted score was also derived based on the degree of directivity needed for the participant to provide these items, again with a possible maximum of 33. A total of 132 psychiatrists participated in the study at T0 and T1. Both the weighted and unweighted score significantly increased from T0 to T1 (d = +2.08, p < 0.001, and d = +1.24, p < 0.001, respectively). Having a history of contacts with journalists, a short professional experience (<3 years) and prior knowledge of the WE, PE, and WHO recommendations were significantly associated with greater unweighted and weighted scores at baseline. The latter two variables also predicted greater T0–T1 improvement of the weighted score. These results suggest that the MMT could be effective for improving the ability of psychiatrists to guide journalists toward more responsible media coverage of suicide. As a short, easy to implement educational activity, the MMT could therefore be considered in association with other measures to help media professionals mitigating the WE and promoting the PE.

Close link between the global web-search trend of suicide and the entertainment industry: Who is at risk?

Suicide is having an increasing trend, and over the past three decades, there is a 6.7% increase in mortality due to suicide globally. Close to 1 million people die globally every year due to suicide, with approximately one suicide every 40 seconds. The low and middle-income countries (LMICs) cater to approximately 4/5th of global suicide. As per World Health Organization data, the third leading cause of death among adolescents (age between 15 to 19 years) is suicide. A study on adolescents in 32 LMICs concluded that violence, abuse, bullying, substance use (e.g., Alcohol), and loneliness to be the specific determinants of suicidal behavior among adolescents. Over the past decade, the United Kingdom reports an increasing suicide trend among young individuals. In the context of suicide, various risk factors (biological, psychological, social) have been implicated. Over the last few decades, more focus has been put on biological factors that cause suicide. Mental illnesses, especially the role of mood disorders in causing suicide among young people, are recognized as a strong predictor of suicide. Unfortunately, the biological factors may not attribute to the trend of suicide or explosive peaks of suicide; instead, the sudden peaks in suicidal behavior may be determined by several social determinants. The way suicide is being reported by media may further influence suicidal behavior. Sensational reporting by media triggers suicidal behavior in society (Werther effect), whereas responsible media reporting has a protective effect on suicidal behavior (Papageno effect). Media reporting about suicide has a modeling effect on society, which evokes imitation. People, mainly teenagers, identify themselves with the characters/individuals who committed suicide.

Malaysian Stakeholder Perspectives on Suicide-Related Reporting: Findings From Focus Group Discussions

Media guidelines on safe suicide-related reporting are within the suicide prevention armamentarium. However, implementation issues beleaguer real-world practice. This study evaluated the perspectives of the Malaysian media community, persons with lived experience of suicidal behavior (PLE), and mental health professionals (MHP) on suicide-related reporting in terms of the impact, strategies, challenges, and the implementation of guidelines on safe reporting. Three focus group discussions of purposively sampled Malaysian media practitioners (n = 8), PLE (n = 6), and MHP (n = 7) were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. Inclusion criteria were: English fluency, no clinical depression or suicidal ideation (current), no recent previous suicide attempts or suicide bereavement. Three major themes emerged: (1) Unsafe Reporting; (2) Impact; and (3) Safe Reporting. Most described current reporting as unsafe by being potentially triggering to media users and may contribute to contagion effect. Positive impacts identified included raised awareness toward suicide and its prevention. Unsafe reporting was attributed to inadequate awareness, knowledge, and guidance, lack of empathy and accountability, job-related factors, popularity-seeking, lack of monitoring and governance, and information source(s) with unsafe content. Majority agreed on how suicide stories should be framed to produce a safe report. The media community diverged on how detailed a suicide story should be. Safe reporting challenges included difficulties in balancing beneficial versus harmful details, social media ubiquity and its citizen reporters. Participants suggested these safe reporting strategies: stakeholder engagement, educational approaches, improving governance and surveillance, and guidelines revision. Most acknowledged the relevance of guidelines but were unaware of the existence of local guidelines. Implementation challenges included the dilemma in balancing media industry needs vis-à-vis safe reporting requirements, stakeholder engagement difficulties and social media regulation. There is poor awareness regarding safe suicide-related reporting across all groups. PLE and MHP were negatively impacted by current unsafe messaging which aggravated trauma and grief reactions. Postvention support gaps for mental health professionals were highlighted. Safe reporting promotion strategies should include stakeholder engagement to increase awareness on minimizing Werther and maximizing Papageno effects. Strategic re-examination and dissemination of local media guidelines to address new media issues, and effective surveillance mechanisms, are crucial in sustainable improvement of safe reporting practices.

Effects of suicide awareness materials on individuals with recent suicidal ideation or attempt: online randomised controlled trial.

Awareness materials featuring ways of coping with suicidal ideation can reduce suicidal ideation, the so-called Papageno effect. All of the previous experimental studies on this subject have been conducted with individuals not at risk of suicide. To assess effects of suicide awareness materials in a sample of individuals with recent suicidal ideation. Trial registration: German Clinical Trial Registry ID number DRKS00013613. Adults (n = 266) with recent self-reported suicidal ideation or attempt were randomised to read an educative article featuring a lay individual with personal experience of suicidality (n = 86), a similar article featuring a mental health expert (n = 90), or an unrelated article (n = 90) in a double-blind online randomised controlled trial. Questionnaire data were collected before (T1) and immediately after exposure (T2) as well as 1 week later (study end-point, T3) and analysed with linear mixed models. The primary outcome was suicide risk as assessed using the Survival and Coping Beliefs subscale of the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFLI); secondary outcomes were suicide-prevention knowledge and mood. There was an immediate beneficial effect on suicide risk in the intervention group exposed to the message delivered by the individual with personal experience (group 1) as compared with the control group that was maintained until the study end-point (study end-point: RFLI score mean difference from baseline within group 1 MD = -0.36 (95% CI -0.66 to -0.06), mean difference compared with control group MD = -0.71 (95% CI -1.27 to -0.14); d = -0.18). The effect was particularly pronounced for individuals with recent suicide attempt (RFLI score at T3, compared with control group: MD = -1.55 (95% CI -2.52 to -0.57); d = -0.23). Participants in this group also showed increased prevention-related knowledge compared with the control group. Individuals with a recent suicide attempt appear to benefit from a printed narrative of positive coping with suicidal ideation. The intervention materials do not increase short-term suicide risk.

Suicide and the Media: From Werther to Papageno Effects – A Selective Literature Review

Et betydelig antall studier har vist at sensasjonspregete skildringer av selvmord i media kan utløse imitasjonsselvmord; dette er ofte omtalt som «Werther-effekten». For å forhindre skadelige medieeffekter, har nasjonale og internasjonale organisasjoner utviklet anbefalinger for omtale av selvmord i mediene for å endre praksis i hvordan selvmord beskrives og for å styrke fokuset på selvmordsforebyggende aspekter. I løpet av det siste tiåret har man fått mer kunnskaper som viser at visse typer medieomtale av selvmord kan ha forebyggende effekt. Særlig medie- saker som beskriver personlige erfaringer med selvmords- tanker og hvordan man kan overvinne og takle vanskelige livssituasjoner, har vist seg å redusere suicidalitet i enkelte grupper. Denne beskyttende effekten har blitt kalt Papageno-effekten. I denne artikkelen gir vi en selektiv oversikt over aktuell litteratur om Werther- og Papagenoeffektene for forskjellige typer medier, og legger særlig vekt på nye kunnskaper om Papageno-effekten generert fra randomisert kontrollerte studier. Vi viser hvordan disse effektene kan utnyttes i selvmordsforebyggende arbeid ved samarbeid med media, og peker på fortsatte mangler i kunnskapene som må fokuseres i fremtidig forskning.

The Impact of Widely Publicized Suicides on Search Trends: Using Google Trends to Test the Werther and Papageno Effects

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of widely publicized suicides on the Werther and Papageno Effects using internet search trends. A list of widely publicized suicides from 2010 through 2018 was compiled along with dates of death for each of these individuals. Google.com/trends data were then collected for searches for “how to suicide” and “suicide prevention” for 14 days prior to a widely publicized suicide/14 days after a widely publicized suicide and 7 days prior to a widely publicized suicide/7 days after a widely publicized suicide. Comparisons were then made between these time periods for “how to suicide” and “suicide prevention.” Some celebrities, such as Robin Williams (2014) and Aaron Hernandez (2017) were associated with increased searches. However, for many there was no increase in search trends. Limited support was found for the impact of widely publicized suicides on internet search trends with one case supporting a Werther Effect and one case supporting a Papageno Effect. The finding that only some celebrities were associated with increased searches may be a byproduct of the impact of celebrity status on these effects, with more prominent celebrities having the greatest impact.

Pautas de redacción y análisis de contenido en noticias sobre suicidio en la prensa española e internacional: efecto Werther&amp;Papageno y seguimiento de las recomendaciones de la OMS

En España fallecen por suicidio el triple de personas que en accidente de tráfico, pero la muerte intencional sigue siendo un asunto que en las redacciones informativas se silencia por considerar que su visibilidad fomenta el aumento de conductas imitativas. La Organización Mundial de la Salud promueve desde 2000 una guideline para el abordaje informativo del suicidio en la que se proponen comportamientos diferentes: informar con responsabilidad y de modo que se colabore en dinámicas de prevención. Esta investigación revisa libros de estilo o códigos de conducta de FAPE, de los nueve colegios profesionales de España y de 23 organizaciones profesionales internacionales y analiza las noticias online durante seis meses en una muestra intencional de 11 periódicos de referencia (El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, La Voz de Galicia y El Periódico, The Guardian, Le Monde, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Corrieri della Sera y Público) para identificar si existen pautas que orienten el abordaje informativo e intentar determinar si la política informativa apuesta por fomentar el efecto Werther (silencio) o el efecto Papageno (prevención).PALABRAS CLAVE: Medios de comunicación, responsabilidad social,prensa, suicidio.

Assisted Dying and Suicide Prevention

The author presents two examples of suicide by disabled people, one unassisted and one assisted. There are points of dissimilarity but also points of similarity. The language of “assisted dying” is misleading especially when the person is not terminally ill. In contrast, the language of “assisted suicide” is appropriate and is used in Switzerland and the Benelux countries. Guidance is needed for media reporting of assisted suicides. In addition to avoidance of certain details and ways of framing stories, the media should also seek to tell more positive stories about life with disability, counteracting the Werther effect with the Papageno effect. This article concerns suicide prevention in relation to the practice and the reporting of assisted dying. Its focus is the situation of people who are suicidal and who have a physical disability or a mental health condition. The aim of the article is not to consider the current or possible future shape of the law in different jurisdictions in relation to determining, assisting and encouraging, or preventing suicide. It aims, rather, to call attention to danger of suicide, whether assisted or unassisted, among people who would be eligible for euthanasia in the Low Countries or for medical assistance in suicide in Switzerland. Irrespective of the shape of the law, the fundamental challenge remains, to live well together despite the vicissitudes of life.

Werther vs. Papageno Effect Online: Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of Educative Suicide Prevention Websites on Suicide Risk Factors

Werther vs. Papageno Effect Online: Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of Educative Suicide Prevention Websites on Suicide Risk Factors

Peut-on faire du journaliste un acteur de la prévention du suicide ?

IntroductionAfter more than 50 years of dedicated research, media coverage of suicide is now well known to have a significant influence on the suicide epidemiology. This influence is supposed to result from two opposite effects. The Werther effect (WE) refers to the robust increase of suicide rates following the publication of a suicide story. This specific kind of mass cluster implies a suggestion process, i.e. imitation of the depicted death by vulnerable persons. In contract, the preventive potential of medias has been labeled the “Papageno effect” (PE). Although more recently discovered and far less known, PE predicts that journalists can help prevent suicidal behaviors beyond a simple WE reduction. Because PE and WE directly bridge journalistic productions to suicidal events, several national and international health organisms (including the World Health Organization) started to see the media as new prevention opportunities. In this paper, we intend to assess the extent to which journalists can be considered as public health actors in the specific field of suicide prevention. MethodsBased on a critical review of the so-called Media effect studies, we explore the opportunities, limits and constraints of collaborating with media professionals for public health actions. For that purpose, we focus on the main strategy employed so far, namely providing recommendations for more cautious coverage of suicide. An overview of the efficacy of these recommendations serves not only as a starting point for understanding how public health and journalistic perspectives can confront, but also how they can be combined in a fertile way. ResultsNumerous suicide prevention organisms developed strategies in order to assist journalists in reporting suicide stories in a safer way. As a formal support to these strategies, around 30 national or international guides have been produced around the word, with the shared aim of reducing WE and, eventually, promoting PE. The recommendations about articles’ style and content that compose these guides were shown to be similar across the countries. They mostly meet public health concerns, rest on the available knowledge about the two effects’ determinants and thus advocate for a less quantitatively and qualitatively prominent coverage. However, the way the guides were produced and implemented shows considerable variations. While most countries solely edited and/or distributed the recommendations with no complementary measures, several organisms associated their publication with promotion actions towards the journalists and general public. Evidence for the impact of the guides’ publication on suicide rates, although encouraging, are seriously limited by methodological considerations. As a consequence, their efficacy is more often assessed in terms of media compliance to the recommendations. The extent to which media items respect the guidelines depends considerably on the way journalists are invited – or not – to resort to them. While the strategy seems inefficient when limited to a simple publication, the quality of suicide portrayal significantly improves when the guides are part of a whole prevention campaign dealing with suicide coverage. Moreover the journalist's implication at each step of the process seems a crucial point for its success. DiscussionMedia professionals are submitted to their own codes, constraints and missions which do not necessarily fit with public health concerns. If considered as prescriptions to reduce the suicide rates, journalists might see recommendations for a more cautious coverage to be a threat to their independence, thus accounting for their non-compliance. On the other hand, a real collaborative approach based on shared skills and knowledge could help sensitize journalists to a responsibility that PE and WE inevitably give them. Under these conditions, recommendations can become a precious resource to help media professional when facing a sensitive issue and finally contribute to fight against suicide.

Papageno program: When learners collaborate for a safer coverage of suicide

Media coverage of suicide has been repeatedly shown to influence suicide rates. The Werther Effect (WE) qualifies the propensity of suicide stories to prompt imitative behaviors. By contrast, the Papageno effect (PE) was more recently identified as a way for journalists to contribute to suicide prevention through their productions. Crucially, both WE and PE depend on the quantitative (audience, redundancies, size of articles, etc.) and qualitative (type of story, editorial style, content, etc.) properties of the coverage.In order to promote the PE and limit the WE, the World Health Organization (WHO) have edited a guideline for media professionals. For instance, journalists are advised to prohibit sensationalism, avoid pictures or details about the suicide method, and show due respect to the bereaved relatives. However, it is now clear that the only chance for these recommendations to be applied is to integrate their diffusion into a more general effort toward collaboration with journalists.Papageno is a French national suicide prevention program that fully relies on learners to rise awareness about suicide and its coverage. It mainly consists in pair-meetings between psychiatry trainees and journalism students. Such an innovative formula breaks with the old top-down knowledge transmission model in order to foster personalized and sustainable sensitization. It aims at growing up a new generation of journalists who would be more aware of their responsibility concerning suicide and would more spontaneously resort to the WHO guidelines. Ultimately, the Papageno program strives for the creation of a new culture where journalists and psychiatrist would collaborate for a safer media coverage of suicide.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Le traitement médiatique du suicide : du constat épidémiologique aux pistes de prévention

Media coverage of suicide can result in increased morbi-mortality suicidal rates, due to an imitation process in those who are particularly vulnerable. This phenomenon is known as "Werther effect". Werther effect's magnitude depends on several qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the media coverage, in a dose-effect relationship. An extensive (in terms of audience and history repetition) and salient coverage (glorification of suicide, description of the suicidal method, etc.) increases the risk of contagion. Celebrities' suicide is particularly at risk of Werther effect. Media may also have a preventive role with respect to suicide. Indeed, according to "Papageno effect", journalists could, under certain conditions, help preventing suicide when reporting suicide stories. Two main theories in the field of social psychology have been proposed to account for Werther and Papageno effects: social learning theory and differential identification. Identification of Werther and Papageno effects uncovers new responsibilities and potentialities for the journalists in terms of public health. Their description provides a basis for promising targeted prevention actions.

Between Werther and Papageno effects

Research on the impact of suicide depictions in the media is traditionally focussed on two possible outcomes: on the one hand, there is ample evidence for additional copycat effects after media coverage of suicides referred to as the Werther effect but on the other hand, suicide rates decrease after appropriate media depictions of suicides referred to as the Papageno effect. It is still uncertain what exactly qualifies studies that only limitedly support an imitative or preventive media effect, i.e. studies with ambiguous findings, as they are often disregarded. The present literature review focuses on equivocal studies (n = 25) on copycat suicides that were systematically analyzed based on theoretically derived criteria. The results of the systematic analysis of all identified studies imply that media effects on suicidality are better understood and discussed as a continuum between the two extremes that were introduced as either a damaging Werther effect or a beneficial Papageno effect. Future studies must clarify what factors contribute to a shift from ambiguous findings to harmful media effects on individual suicidality.

Position statement and guideline on media coverage of suicide.

Byline: K. Pavitra, K. Shubrata One of the chief concerns of human sciences has been to understand how people think, how they construe meaning and make interpretations. Indian dance forms, Bharatanatyam in particular have always been closely linked to both physical and psychic spheres. The functionalists have understood art as an elaborate mechanism for defining social relationships, sustaining social rules, strengthening social values and forwarding doctrines. [sup][1] Dance movements in and of themselves, communicate effectively and cognitively the values, beliefs, attitudes and learned behavior, a community shares. [sup][2] They also contribute to the dynamic and overcharging phenomenon of culture. Thus, psyche-physique, culture and dance forms are all closely linked. Spencer [sup][3] reviews the recurrent themes emerging from writings on the subject. The first theme treats dance as a safety valve that releases pent-up emotions, tensions and drives. The second theme deals with the educational role of dance and transmission of sentiments. Dance may be seen as a cast or mold which shapes children into culturally conforming adults. Dance among Samoan children separates the adept from the in adept, preparing them respectively for success or failure in adulthood. It initiates grace, proficiency and confidence in skilled and keen children while the clumsy and incapable are rebuked and discouraged. [sup][4] The third theme views dance as transmitting and maintaining culturally desirable sentiments that underlie orderly social existence of society and promote solidarity. The fourth theme bespeaks of dance as a cumulative process in which collective passion rises as dancers lose themselves in the dance becoming absorbed in the unified community and being transported to a state of elation. The fifth theme emphasizes the element of competition in dance demonstrated in the work of Rappaport. [sup][5] The sixth theme tells of dance as a ritual drama lifting the people out of their structural routine into the realm of spiritual beings. The seventh theme regards dancing as a shared activity with non-verbal mode of communication and invites exploration of patterns of dance movements to discern concealed meaning. Emotions are construed as cultural acquisitions which are determined by the circumstances and concepts of a particular culture as well as, or rather much more than, by the functions of biology, more specifically neurology. [sup][6] The major postulates of a general theory of emotions, [sup][7] are (1) the concept of emotion is applicable to all evolutionary levels and applies to animals as well as to humans. (2) With an evolutionary history behind them, emotions have evoked forms of expression in different species. (3) Emotions are adaptive in helping organisms deal with key issues posed by the environment. (4) Despite different forms of expression of emotions in diverse species, there are certain identifiable common elements or prototype patterns. (5) There are a small number of basic, primary or prototype emotions. (6) All other emotions are mixed/derivative states i.e., they occur as combinations, mixtures or compounds of the primary emotions. (7) Primary emotions are hypothetical constructs or idealized states the properties and characteristics of which can be inferred. (8) Primary emotions can be computerized in terms of polar opposites. (9) All emotions vary in their degree of similarity to one another. (10) Each emotion can exist in varying degrees of intensity or levels of arousal. Emotions are being increasingly recognized as central to cultural meaning system, relationships and communication. Since children must be motivated to act in concordance with cultural values, it is important to incorporate, (1) meanings of the particular emotion words and the place of emotions in the structure and functioning of the self. (2) Developmental theories regarding the origin and the emergence of abilities in the child to feel and behave in an emotional manner of an adult, (3) beliefs about the relationship between emotions and personality types, in works of ethno psychology. …

Media roles in suicide prevention: a systematic review.

The aim of the current systematic review was to monitor and provide an overview of the research performed about the roles of media in suicide prevention in order to find out possible effects media reporting on suicidal behaviours might have on actual suicidality (completed suicides, attempted suicides, suicidal ideation). The systematic review was performed following the principles of the PRISMA statement and includes 56 articles. Most of the studies support the idea that media reporting and suicidality are associated. However, there is a risk of reporting bias. More research is available about how irresponsible media reports can provoke suicidal behaviours (the ‘Werther effect’) and less about protective effect media can have (the ‘Papageno effect’). Strong modelling effect of media coverage on suicide is based on age and gender. Media reports are not representative of official suicide data and tend to exaggerate sensational suicides, for example dramatic and highly lethal suicide methods, which are rare in real life. Future studies have to encounter the challenges the global medium Internet will offer in terms of research methods, as it is difficult to define the circulation of news in the Internet either spatially or in time. However, online media can provide valuable innovative qualitative research material.