The study appeared online on July 31 but it was not until a friend forward the Reuters Health story (written by Lisa Rapaport) to me today that I was aware Google search volumes for queries about suicide were 19 percent higher than expected in the 19 days following the show’s release, reflecting 900,000 to 1.5 million more searches than there otherwise would have been.
Why is this significant? Rapaport quotes lead author John Ayers of San Diego State University in California, who said, “The more someone contemplates suicide, the more likely they are to act,” adding, “Searches often foreshadow offline behaviors.”
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