The beginnings of my relationship to sui- cide had been shaped through watching “13 Reasons Why,” and largely through other media. And because I have never lived inside the experience, I didn’t un- derstand how to comfort the people in my life who had. I had only been exposed to over dramatizations or demonization’s, narratives that turned suicide into spec-
all at once. On one side, she noted, social media, film, and television have “opened space for honest discussion, peer support, and mental health advo- cacy.” Campaigns, hashtags, and even certain TV shows have helped normalize phrases
tacle or warning rather than something human, complicated, and lived. So, I started to wonder what happens where stories meet real people, and where language be- gins to shape not just un- derstanding but action. That curiosity led me to Dr. Karen Stollznow, a linguist and researcher whose work examines the uneasy marriage be- tween language and cul- tural perception. Conve- niently for me, she has worked on the book “On the Offensive: Prejudice in Past and Present” which covers the impor- tance of inclusive lan- guage and mental health. Dr. Stollznow explained that media has become
like died by suicide (vs. committed sui- cide, as if moral judg- ment were part of the equation), offering people language that feels less accusatory and more compas- sionate—language that encourages some to seek help instead of hiding in silence. “On the other hand,” Dr. Stollznow said, “sensationalized por- trayals or problem- atic terminology can reinforce stigma, ro- manticize suicide, or trigger vulnerable viewers. These plat- forms amplify both awareness and risk.”
a contradictory force: expansive and constricting, supportive and dangerous,
Stories can illuminate, yes, but they can just as easily distort. A single graph- ic scene, a single poorly framed headline, can ripple into countless private aftershocks. “The language we see and hear in popular me- dia now plays a huge role in shaping how soci- ety understands and talks about suicide. Some-
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