TORONTO – The powerful lyrics and storytelling in American rapper Logic’s song, 1-800-273-8255, is attributed to an increase in calls to the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. (1-800 273-TALK) and the corresponding decrease in suicides in a new study peer-reviewed in the US journal The BMJ following the three public events that captured the article’s most attention. sing.
The song is about someone in a suicidal crisis, and begins with Logic expressing that hopelessness. Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara then responded with empathy and a positive message of hope, and ended with Logic about perseverance and aspiration to live. The song also features American music artist, Khalid.
The accompanying music video follows the life of a young black man struggling with opposition and bullying for being gay, trying to find acceptance and thinking about suicide, before finding to Lifeline by phone call. The clip ends years later, when he has found love, happiness, and acceptance.
The influential impact of song shows the positive impact of mass media on vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups contemplating suicide, the researchers say.
Observational study led by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler at the Medical University of Vienna evaluated changes in daily calls to hotlines before and after the song’s release, the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2018 Grammy Awards. – three stages when the song has generated some strong public attention.
A full dataset for Twitter looking at all song-specific mentions geolocated in the US, excluding malicious bots, is used to gather estimates of user attention. audience and duration of influence.
It found that, in the 34 days following these three events, Lifeline received 9,915 more calls than usual, or a 6.9% increase over what would normally be expected. There were also 245 fewer deaths from suicide, or 5.5% fewer than expected.
Logic, born Robert Bryson Hall II, said in a video about the song: “In my mind, I thought, ‘I’m not even trying to save anyone’s life.’ “And then it hit. to me – the strength that I have as a vocal artist. I didn’t even try to save your life. Now what if I really did?”
The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard charts in September 2017, which is also related to a nearly 10% increase in Google searches for Lifeline in the 28 days following its release and has over a billion hits. streaming on Spotify by the end of 2020. The official music video has been viewed more than 431.78 million times on YouTube.
“Logic’s song potentially represents the most widespread and sustained suicide prevention message that connects directly with the story of hope and recovery in any location to date and is therefore the a fortuitous event for the study,” the authors, which included researchers from Austria, the United States, Canada, and Australia, wrote.
A “dummy variable” included the release of 13 Reasons Why, a Netflix show that drew fierce criticism at the time of its release for failing to comply with media recommendations about it, the researchers said. Safe description of suicidal behavior. Previous research has shown the program is linked to a 5.5 percent increase in suicides in the US for people between the ages of 10 and 19.
The researchers also took into account World Suicide Prevention Day and celebrity suicides in the period before the song’s release through the end of December 2018, as additional variables, including the deaths of Chris Cornell, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. The researchers found that the overall pattern of celebrity suicides was largely consistent with previous research on magnitude and impact.
“Previous peaks in calls to Lifeline were almost always associated with harmful media events, such as celebrity suicides,” the researchers write, but note that there are very few or there are only a limited number of studies evaluating positive effects.
“Our findings of a significant increase in actual help seeking and a reduction in suicides during a period of increased public attention to Logic’s song have effectively supported the world reality of this intervention.”
The authors note that there are a number of limitations to the study, including whether the song had any impact outside of the period of the most attention and the fact that social media data can does not fully capture the number of people who actually listened to the song.
“Logic has shown the potential of the creative arts to impart constructive coping strategies to people with mental difficulties,” said Alexandra Pitman, associate professor of psychiatry at University College London , wrote in an editorial in The BMJ.
“Future plans for similar interventions should attempt to measure suicide attitudes in the target population to help us understand how it works. Until then, the commitment of those key cultural influences are welcome to help amplify public health interventions that strengthen protective factors against suicide in specific vulnerable groups.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, here are some resources that are available.
Canada’s Suicide Prevention Helpline: 1-833-456-4566
Center for Addiction and Mental Health: 1 800 463-2338
Crisis Services Canada: 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645
Child Help Phone: (1-800-668-6688)
Embrace Life Council Hotline: 1-800-265-3333
Trans Lifeline: 1-877-330-6366
If you need immediate assistance, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.
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