Citation

Heney V. Lancet 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00253-8

PMID

38364842

Abstract

Conversations around the representation of self-harm--in books, films, and television--often start and finish with the question of imitation. From authors to politicians, from parents to researchers, this seems to be an urgent consideration; that certain stories or images may lead viewers and readers to self-harm, or at least make self-harm more likely. Such fears are understandable, but they unhelpfully assume a simple relation between exposure and behaviour, in which seeing (or reading) leads straightforwardly to doing. The fictional depiction becomes all-powerful, and the individual consuming it, the potential self-harmer, loses the ability to exercise their own judgement. Brigit McWade, a medical sociologist, has suggested that this paternalistic way of thinking positions the critic as hero, working to protect vulnerable people from self-harm through controlling what they encounter or how they encounter it. This framing of the relation between narratives and experiences of self-harm is not neutral: it is one that implies that people who self-harm are naive and easily influenced, that they cannot be trusted with the supposedly risky activities of reading or watching.

Language: en