Researchers say the epidemic of suicide after celebrity death is real – as they study Robin Williams, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.

Celebrity suicides can act as a ‘contagion’ – causing thousands of people to consider suicide, a new study has warned.

Researchers analyzed the ‘rapid and massive spread’ of suicidal behavior linked to the deaths of three notable people, including actor Robin Williams, fashion designer Kate Spade and travel writer Anthony Bourdain.

They found a 1,000-fold increase in people thinking about suicide after Williams’ death in 2014, showing how quickly the infection is spreading.

The team reported that they hope that their results will provide a framework for understanding the epidemic of suicide in order to understand, prevent and prevent its spread in the future.

Robin Williams (left) committed suicide by hanging in 2014, prompting Americans to do the same and Kate Spade (right) committed suicide in 2018.

Researchers at Columbia University reported that there is no single cause of suicide or suicidal thoughts, but some have been linked to social, or infectious, processes.

Being close to people or being familiar with other people who have thought about, attempted or committed suicide has been found to contribute to them developing suicidal thoughts or actions, the team said.

They focused on the spikes in suicide rates after Williams’ death and the subsequent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain — who both died within days of each other in 2018.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, analyzed data from weekly calls made to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a 24-hour call center, to estimate how many people had thoughts of suicide. suicide and death data from the National Vital Statistics System.

He added: “The model we presented shows how the contagion of suicidality, including suicidal ideation and death, spreads quickly after the death of famous people whose life and work theirs is known and meaningful to many people,” he added.

Suicide is now the ninth leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 64, and will be responsible for more than 48,000 deaths by 2021, which is about one death every minute. 11 more, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Jeffrey Shaman, a co-author of the study and a professor at Columbia University, said there was a significant increase in call volume to Lifeline after the deaths of the three celebrities, but Williams’ suicide seems to have a big impact.

“The 2018 case is the same, although the magnitude of the suicide rate change after the news of the Spade and Bourdain suicides was almost half,” Shaman said.

‘Between the two famous suicide incidents, the number of people who committed suicide almost doubled after the 2014 Williams incident, which may reflect the difference between the communication and the media. the information behind each event and the status of people related to the deceased.’

Williams was a popular actor known for his roles in the critically acclaimed films Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and Good Will Hunting (1997), among many others.

He was only 63 when he committed suicide by hanging, and his death shocked the world with data showing a 32 percent increase in suicides using the same method. , according to a 2018 study by Columbia University’s Mailman School. Public Health.

“While we cannot definitively attribute this death to the death of Robin Williams, we found a rapid increase in suicides in August 2014, and suicides clearly, which were similar in time and style. of Williams’ death,” co-author David Fink, said at the time.

Anthony Bourdain was a travel writer who committed suicide by hanging a few days after Kate Spade in June 2018.

Now the researchers say their new results reflect a 2018 study, which reported that the number of people who committed suicide in the US increased by 37 percent between 2000 and 2018, but fell by five percent between 2018 and 2020 before they return to their peak in 2021.

Spade and Bourdain died within three days of each other in June 2018 – both by hanging – and drew attention to the rising number of suicides in the United States.

“In both the 2014 and 2018 comparisons, the increased infection rate lasted two weeks before returning to baseline,” said Shaman.

Suicide is now the ninth leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 64, and will be responsible for more than 48,000 deaths by 2021, which is about one death every minute. another 11, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Co-author of the study, Professor Katherine Keyes, said their main goal going forward ‘is to work to the extent that the suicide model can identify a rapid response aimed at preventing suicide.’