The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France
On January 9, 2022, Belgian pop singer Stromae performed his new hit “L’enfer” live on French TV. The song addresses his personal struggles with suicidal ideation. To evaluate the impact of Stromae’s performance, we modeled the evolution of hospital admission rates for suicide attempts (SAs) in Fran...
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| Format: | Article |
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Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933824018054/type/journal_article |
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| author | Charles-Edouard Notredame Chloé Saint-Dizier Antoine Lamer Erika Nogue Emile Fares Mohamed Lemdani Guillauma Vaiva Philippe Courtet Emilie Olié |
| author_facet | Charles-Edouard Notredame Chloé Saint-Dizier Antoine Lamer Erika Nogue Emile Fares Mohamed Lemdani Guillauma Vaiva Philippe Courtet Emilie Olié |
| author_sort | Charles-Edouard Notredame |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | On January 9, 2022, Belgian pop singer Stromae performed his new hit “L’enfer” live on French TV. The song addresses his personal struggles with suicidal ideation. To evaluate the impact of Stromae’s performance, we modeled the evolution of hospital admission rates for suicide attempts (SAs) in France, calls to the national suicide prevention helpline (3114), and Twitter publications mentioning the singer or the helpline. We employed the Gombay test to identify change points within each time series. We identified a significant increase in mean SA rates among women aged 20–24 years 6 days after the singer’s performance. No similar effect was observed in the general population or other young age groups. The show was immediately followed by a peak in tweets referring to the singer, while Twitter activity related to the 3114 remained modest. We did not observe any increase in calls to the helpline. Celebrity testimonies about suicidal experiences can help alleviate stigma but should be accompanied by prevention messages to reduce the risk of contagion. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-31d599ef38c040c58926a283ac5f01ee |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-31d599ef38c040c58926a283ac5f01ee2025-01-21T06:18:16ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852025-01-016810.1192/j.eurpsy.2024.1805The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in FranceCharles-Edouard Notredame0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7390-6298Chloé Saint-Dizier1https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5274-2943Antoine Lamer2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9546-1808Erika Nogue3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3787-1275Emile Fares4Mohamed Lemdani5Guillauma Vaiva6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2462-008XPhilippe Courtet7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6519-8586Emilie Olié8Department of Psychiatry, National Coordination Team of the 3114, CHU Lille, Lille, France Lille Neuroscience & Cognition (LilNCog), University of Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, U1172, Lille, France Groupement d’étude et de prévention du suicide, Saint-Benoît, France Papageno Program, Lille, FranceFédération de Recherche en Psychiatrie et Santé Mentale des Hauts-de-France (F2RSM Psy), Lille, France METRICS: Évaluation des Technologies de santé et des Pratiques médicales, Laboratoire de Biomathématiques, CHU Lille, ULR 2694, Université de Lille, Lille, FranceFédération de Recherche en Psychiatrie et Santé Mentale des Hauts-de-France (F2RSM Psy), Lille, France METRICS: Évaluation des Technologies de santé et des Pratiques médicales, Laboratoire de Biomathématiques, CHU Lille, ULR 2694, Université de Lille, Lille, FranceClinical Research and Epidemiology Unit, CHU de Montpellier, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceFédération de Recherche en Psychiatrie et Santé Mentale des Hauts-de-France (F2RSM Psy), Lille, FranceMETRICS: Évaluation des Technologies de santé et des Pratiques médicales, Laboratoire de Biomathématiques, CHU Lille, ULR 2694, Université de Lille, Lille, FranceDepartment of Psychiatry, National Coordination Team of the 3114, CHU Lille, Lille, France Lille Neuroscience & Cognition (LilNCog), University of Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, U1172, Lille, France Groupement d’étude et de prévention du suicide, Saint-Benoît, FranceInstitute of Functional Genomics (IGF), University of Montpellier, CNRS, INSERM, Montpellier, France Department of Emergency Psychiatry and Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceInstitute of Functional Genomics (IGF), University of Montpellier, CNRS, INSERM, Montpellier, France Department of Emergency Psychiatry and Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceOn January 9, 2022, Belgian pop singer Stromae performed his new hit “L’enfer” live on French TV. The song addresses his personal struggles with suicidal ideation. To evaluate the impact of Stromae’s performance, we modeled the evolution of hospital admission rates for suicide attempts (SAs) in France, calls to the national suicide prevention helpline (3114), and Twitter publications mentioning the singer or the helpline. We employed the Gombay test to identify change points within each time series. We identified a significant increase in mean SA rates among women aged 20–24 years 6 days after the singer’s performance. No similar effect was observed in the general population or other young age groups. The show was immediately followed by a peak in tweets referring to the singer, while Twitter activity related to the 3114 remained modest. We did not observe any increase in calls to the helpline. Celebrity testimonies about suicidal experiences can help alleviate stigma but should be accompanied by prevention messages to reduce the risk of contagion.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933824018054/type/journal_articlehelplinesocial mediasuicide attemptsuicide contagionWerther effect |
| spellingShingle | Charles-Edouard Notredame Chloé Saint-Dizier Antoine Lamer Erika Nogue Emile Fares Mohamed Lemdani Guillauma Vaiva Philippe Courtet Emilie Olié The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France European Psychiatry helpline social media suicide attempt suicide contagion Werther effect |
| title | The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France |
| title_full | The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France |
| title_fullStr | The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France |
| title_short | The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae’s song L’enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France |
| title_sort | impact of the live broadcast of stromae s song l enfer on social media publications calls to the national helpline and suicide attempt rates in france |
| topic | helpline social media suicide attempt suicide contagion Werther effect |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933824018054/type/journal_article |
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