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The “sick-lit” question and the death education answer. Papageno versus Werther effects in adolescent suicide prevention

2016; De Gruyter; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1515/humaff-2016-0016

1338-2373

Ines Testoni, Giulia Parise, Adriano Zamperini, Emilio Paolo Visintin, Emanuele Toniolo, Silvia Vicentini, Diego De Leo,

Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Abstract This study analyzes the “sick-lit” narrative phenomenon, a story writing genre rooted in self-harm and suicide, which seems to be gaining remarkable popularity amongst adolescents. This success is a symptom of young people’s need to address the issue of death. The qualitative research was composed of two parts: the first explored the ambivalent representation of sick-lit on the internet, where two opposing factions argue about its educative usefulness vs. its potentially dangerous copycat effect. The second part investigated six novels and their representations of self-harm, death, sufferance and suicide. The analysis confuted the idea that sick-lit may be a positive instrument for making adolescents aware of mortality and showed the need to transform the Werther risk effect into the Papageno possibility by exploring the content of these books with adolescents in death education courses.