A research group led by Visiting Professor Hayashi has clarified the impact that media coverage of suicide incidents has on the occurrence of suicide attempts.Itabashi Campus

On Monday, August 18, 2025, a research group including Naoki Hayashi, Visiting Professor the Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Teikyo University School of Medicine, and liaison medical staff, revealed the impact that media coverage of suicide incidents has on the occurrence of suicide attempts.

The impact of media coverage on the occurrence of suicide and suicide attempts has been well studied, revealing that sensationalist descriptions and excessive detail increase the risk. These findings have been used to develop reporting guidelines. However, the differences in the impact of newspaper coverage on suicide attempt patients by gender and age group have not been fully elucidated.
Therefore, in this study, we investigated the relationship between attempted suicide patients treated at Trauma and Resuscitation Center Teikyo University Hospital and all articles about suicide cases published in the northern part of Tokyo's wards by four major Japanese newspapers.We found that the number of attempted suicide patients in the week following newspaper coverage increased by approximately 12% compared to the week before the coverage, and that changes in the number of patients by gender and age group (under 34 and over 35) and the content of the coverage, particularly the method of suicide, are related to increases or decreases in patients of specific genders and age groups.It is hoped that this will provide insights that will help prevent the negative impact of suicide coverage on attempted and actual suicide.
Furthermore, this result was published online in the international scientific journal PLOS One on Tuesday, August 5th.

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