I see this question asked a lot, but I’m not going to answer it. Neither should you.

Why not?

Suicidality is a very real condition. In 2021, nearly 50,000 people died of suicide; over 12 million gave it serious consideration.1 These are real people whose lives are potentially in danger. Because suicide is often an impulsive decision, someone who is contemplating suicide may not have spent a lot of time thinking about the specifics of exactly how they’re going to do it. Having to take just a little time to research their preferred method—particularly when it comes to drugs and medications—may be just enough time or space for them to slow down and think more rationally about what they’re doing.

photography of book page
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Now imagine that someone with suicidal ideation reads your book. They read what dose your character takes, and what happens to them. That information is now in their head; it may even become an obsession they can’t stop thinking about. And when your reader’s suicidal ideation becomes strong enough, they now have a plan that they can enact without having to stop and think.  

Copycat suicides

Sadly, I’m not making this up; people really do mimic the suicides they’ve read about or seen on TV. Suicide methods used by celebrities are five times more likely to be used by the general public in the months following their death.2 Children and teenagers have been known to mimic suicides seen on TV shows.2,3 After the publication of Final Exit, a book that promoted asphyxia as a suicide method, deaths by asphyxiation in the US rose by 313%.4 Even more disturbing, a copy of the book was found at the scene of 27% of those deaths.4

Two cats by Christian David

Copycat suicides aren’t a new phenomenon either. In 1774, Goethe published The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which the eponymous character shot himself in the head. Even though the character died slowly and in great pain, the publication of this book was followed by a disturbing new fad: people dressed as Werther shooting themselves in the head.5 The book was banned all across Europe and the phenomenon of copycat suicides became known as the “Werther Effect.”    

What to do instead

Keep the details vague. Don’t provide specific doses or specific combinations of medications, drugs, alcohol, etc. I promise, your book won’t feel less realistic if your character takes a “handful” of pills in their suicide attempt, rather than a specific dose of a specific medication.

Please note that I’m not saying you shouldn’t write about suicide; I’m just asking that you avoid turning your book into a how-to manual for someone who is potentially suicidal. Who knows? You could literally save someone’s life.

orange life buoy on a ship
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Works Cited

  1. “Facts About Suicide.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 8, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html
  2. Çelik et al. (2016). Copycat suicides without an intention to die after watching TV programs: Two cases at five years of age. Noro Psikiyatri Arsivi 53(1), 83084. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5353244/.
  3. Kindelan, K. & Sabina Ghebremedhin. S. (2013, June 28). 2 California families claim ’13 reasons why’ triggered teens’ suicides. ABC News. abcnews.go.com/US/california-families-claim-13-reasons-triggered-teens-suicides/story?id=48323640.
  4. Stack S. Media coverage as a risk factor in suicide. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2003;57:238-240. https://jech.bmj.com/content/57/4/238
  5. Klonsky et al. (2013). The relationship between nonsuicidal self-injury and attempted suicide: Converging evidence from four samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(1), 231–237. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030278