TY - JOUR PY - 2002// TI - The Werther effect. Significance, mechanisms, consequences JO - Nervenarzt A1 - Ziegler, W. A1 - Hegerl, Ulrich SP - 41 EP - 49 VL - 73 IS - 1 N2 - The Werther effect is a highly regarded phenomenon in media effect research. Since the trail-blazing studies conducted by the American sociologist Phillips, there have been a great many attempts to quantify and evaluate imitative deeds that follow genuine suicides and apparent attempts at suicide. This paper starts by tracing the milestones along the way of research into the Werther effect. The concrete imitation patterns following suicides are then discussed, and the implications for responsible journalistic reporting that arise out of them are presented. This seems to be necessary, since despite many-sided and detailed findings on the Werther effect in Germany, there have so far been no experiments devoted to ways of exploiting these research results practically in a suicide prevention programme. Whilst in other countries preliminary guidelines for journalistic reporting have already been elaborated and in some countries even implemented, such efforts are still only in the very early stages in Germany.

Language: de

LA - de SN - 0028-2804 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -