• Charles-Édouard Notredame, Nathalie Pauwels, Michel Walter, Thierry Danel, and Guillaume Vaiva.
• Centre hospitalier régional universitaire de Lille, hôpital Fontan, pôle de psychiatrie et médecine pénitentiaire, 59000 Lille, France; Laboratoire SCALab, UMR CNRS 9193, université de Lille, Lille, France. Electronic address: notredame.ce@gmail.com.
• Presse Med. 2015 Dec 1; 44 (12 Pt 1): 124312501243-50.

AbstractMedia 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.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

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