PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — There has been a long-held but factually-unsupported belief that suicides occur more frequently during the holiday season. The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center is working to let the public know the truth about the numbers, and why the myth is so dangerous.
In 1999, the center started looking at recommendations for journalists on how to report on suicide. Annenberg Research Director Dan Romer said that at the time, they noticed the frequency of false reports that suicides increase around the holidays.
“We started cataloging how widespread this myth is in newspapers and TV stories,” said Romer.
The center’s study said that stories about holiday blues, seasonal affective disorder, and other psychological factors have seemed to give credence to the myth.
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But he added such misinformation has continued for decades.
“Every year there is a disproportionate number of stories that repeat the myth,” he said.
“We just looked at it again over the last year. Over 50% of the stories that we found doing a national search support the myth instead of debunking it.”
He said not only is that information on suicide incorrect, but it can be dangerous to deliver that news to people who are already severely depressed.
“There was a lot of concern that journalists were sensationalizing and glorifying suicide which was leading to some people actually dying by suicide,” said Romer.
“It doesn’t help anybody to tell people that, especially if they’re in a crisis.”
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Romer adds that despite popular belief, December and January have some of the lowest suicide numbers compared to other months, even as suicide numbers in general have risen this century.
“Suicides go up in the spring and summer, and then they go down in the late fall,” he said. “In December and January, they’re the lowest in the year.”
The CDC said that August 2021 had the highest amount of suicides per day of any month that year, while December had the fewest and January had the third fewest.
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The study showed that every year since 2016, December has had the fewest suicides per day of any month, while January had either the second-fewest or third-fewest suicides each year except for 2020. April and May of that year, the first two full months of the COVID-19 pandemic, had the second-fewest and third-fewest during 2020.
Overall, 2021 saw 130.52 suicides per day in the U.S., a higher average compared to 2020, but a smaller average compared to 2018. That year saw the highest suicide rate in the U.S. so far this century, according to the CDC.
Resources:
- Call 988 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
- Chat digitally with the 988 Lifeline.
- In Philadelphia, call 215-685-6440 for the city’s Mental Health Delegate Line.
