Opinion: Mobilising the creative arts to help prevent suicide

Associate Alexandra Pitman (UCL Psychiatry) - Dr Alexandra Pitman - When rapper Logic released '1-800-273-8255' calls to that number - the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - saw a huge rise. For the BMJ's Christmas Editorial, Dr Alexandra Pitman (UCL Psychiatry) looks at the impact of cultural influencers on public health interventions. Some readers may feel that the Christmas edition of  The BMJ , known for its quirkier and sometimes humorous content, is not the appropriate setting for a research paper evaluating a suicide prevention intervention. Yet it is the characteristically creative content of this edition that makes it the perfect vehicle for conveying the paper's key message: that major media coverage of a creative intervention was associated with an increase in calls to a suicide prevention helpline and a reduction in population suicides. How this reduction was achieved, through a collaboration between a US hip hop artist and a national suicide prevention support helpline, is instructive to other countries seeking to reduce incidence of suicide in groups that are hard to reach with traditional messaging. Niederkrotenthaler and colleagues were investigating the Papageno effect-the theory that media reports of someone overcoming a suicidal crisis are protective against suicide, referencing the character Papageno in Mozart's 1791 opera  The Magic Flute . Mourning the apparent death of his love, Papageno contemplates suicide but is encouraged to consider alternatives by three guardian spirits.