OPINION (CBN) – Suicide is at a 19-year-high among kids ages 10 to 17, and some are suggesting it’s tied to the release of the Netflix drama “13 Reasons Why” which showed a girl ending her life. Researchers admit they cannot prove the connection, but they do say there were 195 more youth suicides than would have been expected in the nine months after the show came out in March 2017. The lead author of the findings, Jeff Bridge at Nationwide Children’s Hospital,
says the creators of the series intentionally portrayed the suicide of the main character with a very graphic depiction of her death. He says seeing that alone can trigger suicidal behavior. The researchers utilized the data from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on deaths in Americans aged 10 to 64 from January 2013 through December 2017. While adolescent suicide rates were higher, the Associated Press reports researchers found no change in suicide rates for those 18 and older after the show was released. READ MORE