As a psychotherapist and a mother, the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why sparked significant concern. Initially, the premise of a show where a teen’s suicide unravels the roles others played in her decision was intriguing, yet unsettling. Approaching this series, particularly as a parent to daughters navigating their teenage years, felt daunting. After watching 13 Reasons Why not just as a concerned mother but as a mental health professional, several critical issues emerged, highlighting why this series is not only disturbing but also deeply irresponsible.
Reasons Why Shifting Blame Undermines Mental Health
The core premise of 13 Reasons Why is inherently problematic. While it attempts to show the impact of our actions on others, framing Hannah’s tapes as assigning blame for her suicide is detrimental. In mental health practice, the focus is on empowering individuals to take ownership of their feelings and actions. Teaching resilience and inner strength is crucial, especially for young people. The series, however, promotes a narrative where Hannah externalizes responsibility, pointing fingers at others instead of fostering internal coping mechanisms. This approach can be misleading, suggesting that external factors are solely responsible for mental health struggles, rather than emphasizing personal agency and the ability to seek help and develop resilience.
Reasons Why ’13 Reasons Why’ Romanticizes Suicide as Revenge
One of the most disturbing aspects of 13 Reasons Why is its portrayal of suicide as a form of revenge. Hannah’s posthumous tapes grant her the attention, sympathy, and regret she seemingly craved in life. This narrative dangerously suggests that suicide can achieve desired outcomes, such as making others feel guilt or regret. For teenagers, whose understanding of death’s finality is still developing, this portrayal is especially risky. It can create a distorted perception of suicide as a viable option to elicit specific reactions from others, failing to convey the irreversible and tragic nature of suicide. The series risks glamorizing suicide by associating it with a sense of control and posthumous influence.
Reasons Why Mental Health Support Is Marginalized
Despite depicting characters struggling with significant mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and potentially PTSD, 13 Reasons Why largely overlooks the importance of seeking and receiving help. The series misses a crucial opportunity to model positive responses to mental health challenges, such as reaching out to trusted adults or accessing professional mental health services. Instead, the narrative fixates on suicide as the primary response to distress. By not adequately showcasing pathways to mental health support and recovery, the series presents a skewed and incomplete picture of dealing with mental health struggles, potentially discouraging young viewers from seeking help when they need it. The focus remains on the act of suicide rather than exploring constructive alternatives and available resources.
Reasons Why Female Characters Are Depicted as Powerless
As highlighted in Anna Silman’s article in New York Magazine, 13 Reasons Why inadvertently reinforces a culture of misogyny by depicting its female characters, particularly Hannah, as disempowered. While the series could have been a powerful platform to address issues like sexual assault and gender inequality, these critical messages are overshadowed by the central revenge narrative of Hannah’s suicide. The series could have explored themes of female empowerment, resilience in the face of adversity, and proactive responses to harmful behaviors. Instead, it primarily portrays Hannah as a victim who ultimately resorts to suicide, missing an opportunity to showcase female agency and resistance against systemic issues and personal traumas. A more impactful approach would have been to directly confront the problematic behaviors of the male characters and to empower female viewers to seek justice and support.
Reasons Why the Graphic Suicide Scene Is Irresponsible
The depiction of Hannah’s suicide in 13 Reasons Why is gratuitously graphic and serves as a dangerous step-by-step guide. While censorship is not the aim, the explicit and bloody portrayal of the suicide act is undeniably irresponsible. The change from the book’s method of overdose to the series’ depiction of razor blades and self-harm seems gratuitous and sensationalist. This level of detail provides a visual tutorial on how to commit suicide, which is particularly alarming given the vulnerable teenage audience. Such graphic content can be triggering and contribute to suicide contagion, especially among young people who may be struggling with similar thoughts or emotions.
Reasons Why ’13 Reasons Why’ Violates Suicide Reporting Guidelines
13 Reasons Why, both in its series and book format, fundamentally disregards established best practices for responsible suicide reporting. Organizations like ReportingOnSuicide.org provide clear guidelines to media outlets to prevent suicide contagion and ensure public safety. These guidelines, based on research into the impact of media portrayals of suicide, advise against sensationalizing suicide, detailing suicide methods, or romanticizing the act. 13 Reasons Why violates almost every recommendation, including depicting the method, sensationalizing the narrative, and focusing on the suicide note’s contents through the tapes. By ignoring these crucial guidelines, the series risks contributing to a harmful public health impact, potentially increasing the risk of suicide contagion among vulnerable viewers by romanticizing and detailing the act.
As a psychotherapist, the concerns about 13 Reasons Why are significant and warrant serious consideration, especially for parents. The decision of whether or not to allow children to watch the series is personal. However, if parents choose to permit viewing, it is imperative to watch alongside their children, engage in open and honest discussions, and reinforce the messages of support, love, and the critical understanding that suicide is never the answer. Open communication and reassurance are vital tools to counteract the harmful messages embedded within 13 Reasons Why.
Note: Brooke Fox, LCSW, the original author, is a co-owner of Fox, Levine and Associates.
