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Rapper Logic performs in Illinois in November 2019
Photo: Daniel DeSlover / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO
1 800 273 8255. This is the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the United States.
But it is also the title of a song by US rapper Logic.
Researchers have now found in a study that more people sought help from the hotline after the song was published and advertised.
The number of suicides in the observed period was also below the statistically expected numbers.
The song "1-800-273-8255", published by Logic with Alessia Cara and Khalid, is about a person who dials the helpline number because he no longer wants to live. The accompanying video shows a young man who is being discriminated against because of his sexual orientation, who feels alone and wrong, and who does not seem to have anyone to speak to openly. He is preparing to commit suicide. But then dials the number of the helpline and finally overcomes his crisis.
With the help of Twitter data, the scientists determined when the song had received a lot of public attention.
Accordingly, there were particularly many tweets in the context of the song's release at the end of April 2017, as well as Logic's appearances at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2017 and the Grammy Awards at the end of January 2018. The attention lasted for different lengths of time, but overall the researchers made one Period of 34 days with considerable attention.
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For their study, which was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the researchers linked these events with the number of calls to the helpline.
The analysis showed that within the 34 days 9915 more people dialed the lifeline number than one would have expected.
This corresponds to an increase of 6.9 percent.
There were also 245 fewer suicides than expected within the 34 days.
This corresponds to a reduction of 5.5 percent.
The data on the calls to the helpline and the expected suicides come from the Lifeline itself and the US agency CDC.
No causal relationship proven
The investigation is a so-called observational study. Such analyzes do not prove causal relationships, as the authors write. In addition, it was not possible to subsequently determine whether or not the people seeking help had heard the song or noticed the media attention.
However, it is already known that it can give people courage and they may find a way out of a crisis of their own when others speak openly about how they overcame suicidal ideation.
Experts then speak of the Papageno effect.
The researchers in the study also write that this effect is possible in the case of Logic's song.
Her study suggests that prevention-oriented campaigns like this song could potentially reduce suicides.
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