Suicides in US Rose 10% After Robin Williams’ Death, Study Finds

Directly after Robin Williams took his own life in 2014, there was a marked increase in the number of suicides in the United States. In the months following Williams’s death, there was a nearly 10% jump in the domestic suicide rate. This so-called “celebrity-suicide effect” has been documented in prior research. David S. Fink, the author of a study detailing this particular incident and its after-effects, claims that this overall pattern of copycat suicide and his research represent the “first study to examine the consequences of a celebrity suicide in the digital era.” Though most are familiar with the expression “correlation does not imply causation,” Fink believes the evidence is strong enough to suggest a connection.

While the phenomenon is certainly interesting, some experts are not convinced that it has any relevant scientific importance. John Ayers, a computational epidemiologist working at San Diego State University, said the “problem with this study is: ‘So what?’” While Ayers acknowledges the scientific rigor and validity of the study, he notes there is really “no urgency there.” Williams took his life in 2014. Those who were suffering and used his death as the impetus for their own are already dead. Ayers believes it is important to “extend this research beyond living in the past to the present.” The end-goal would be “to develop strategies where we can have these types of insights while they’re happening so we can respond.”

See Susan Scutti, Suicides in US Rose 10% After Robin Williams’ Death, Study Finds, CNN, February 8, 2018.

Special thanks to Adam J. Hirsch, Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, for bringing this article to my attention.