Self-Accessing Popular Media for Suicide-Intervention: Exploring Youth-Led Public Discourse

Research suggests multiple links between popular media and youth mental health, suggesting that beyond media addiction and potential behavioural challenges, therapeutic benefits may likewise emerge. Building upon existing scholarship on bibliotherapy and cinematherapy, this paper posits that potential health benefits can be derived from youth-oriented popular media which elicit considerable self-initiated media consumption behaviours from youth. Specifically, existing literature suggests a research-gap on youth self-accessing transcultural media of anime to intervene against suicide. This study, in response, provides preliminary exploration of youth-led public discourse on this phenomenon via the public platform of Reddit. After a multi-phase selection for data-quality, analysis of 57 publicly-available, long-form text-narratives on social media reveals 49 unique anime-titles self-accessed by youth as suicide-intervention. Of note, youth report accessing anime as self-medication in place of alcohol, drugs, and painkillers—with potential effect to address depression and suicide ideations without substance abuse. Data suggests that anime may be used as an accessible tool for youth who face intersectional barriers in healthcare-access, while others youth explicitly describe mobilizing anime to find courage for (1) diagnosis; to (2) acknowledge one’s diagnosis, and (3) to complement their existing prescribed therapies. Implications for health equity and addressing the social determinants of health may be further explored, as youth-led popular media emerges with significant intersections with mental health of individuals lacking easily-accessible or financially-affordability psychosocial rehabilitation.