The Quebec Association for Suicide Prevention (AQPS) is preparing a guide to good practices for fiction writers. In a rare warning, the Ministry of Health asks school professionals not to recommend the latest children’s novel by author François Blais, which deals “explicitly” with suicide.
“People who publish or distribute works must be aware that they also have a responsibility towards their audience,” emphasizes Jérôme Gaudreault, President and CEO of the AQPS.
His association is working on a guide to best practices for authors and producers who wish to address the delicate subject of suicide in their work.
“It’s not a posture not to do this or that, but to be aware that there are risks”, he nuances.
“Explicit reference to suicide”
Mr. Gaudreault was reacting to concerns raised by public health authorities regarding the content of the Boy with upside-down feet — The chronicles of Saint-Sévère by the writer François Blais, a novel published in October by Fides editions.
Intended for adolescents, the book “repeatedly and explicitly refers to suicide, as well as concrete means to achieve it”, indicates a notice sent on December 16 to regional public health directors, reported Thursday. The sun.
Suicides are discussed in the form of “games and challenges”, and “no mention is made of the importance of asking for help”.
According to the Ministry of Health, “reading the novel could affect young people with vulnerabilities”.
“The latter could in particular adopt suicidal behavior by imitation. Even in the case of a fiction, the risks of identification are real”, also indicates the letter.
As a result, Quebec is asking professionals who work with young people not to recommend the novel, published posthumously after the suicide of its author last May.
Holding cultural activities or carrying out school work on the structure should also be avoided.
Known risk
The Department rarely issues such recommendations.
It happened in the past with Yan England’s film 1:54 and the American series 13 Reasons Whyrecalls the Ministry of Health by email.
“The means are put in place according to the situation, it can be by letters to the partners, communication with the producer, a call for vigilance”, specifies the publicist Noémie Vanheuverzwijn.
The risk is known, and is called the Werther effect: the hypermediatization of a suicide can trigger suicides by imitation in the general public.
In this case, a vulnerable teenager could identify with the character of the novel who kills himself, explains professor in the psychology department at UQAM Cécile Bardon.
If these are cultural objects that are specifically dedicated to young people, the power of identification is all the greater.
Cécile Bardon, Professor in the Department of Psychology at UQAM and Associate Director of the Center for Research and Intervention on Suicide, Ethical Issues and End-of-Life Practices
According to the professor, the Department’s recommendations are consistent with good practices in suicide prevention.
What to do if your child brings home a book about suicide? Do not panic, answers Mme Bardo. The objective is to start an open dialogue with his young person. Some examples of questions to ask him: “How do you feel about this book? Do you ever feel hopeless? “These works exist and the children will be confronted with them,” warns the teacher.
By e-mail, the Fides Group indicates that a warning has been added to its website, and that a notice will be inserted in the copies of the book in response to the intervention of the Ministry of Health.
The publishing house, however, considers the interpretation of the public health authorities “biased” and denounces the directive issued by Quebec.
This is an act of censorship that is detrimental to the work of the author, to the reputation of the publishing house and, ultimately, to readers.
Excerpt from an email sent by the Fides Group
“The attention [est] focused on a single aspect, presented out of context, stripped of the humanist underpinnings of the story and which thereby obscures the inspiring, positive and constructive aspects of the work,” she laments.
Insufficient data
Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University Rob Whitley notes for his part that the scientific data are insufficient to conclude that fictional suicides in literary works have an influence on the passage to the act.
No public health issue is resolved by silence.
Rob Whitley, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University
Instead, Whitley believes more suicide prevention activities in educational institutions are needed, as long as they focus on messages of hope and resources for help.
“One thing is certain, and that is that young people will discuss these questions with their peers,” underlines the senior researcher at the Douglas Research Centre.
Need help ?
If you need support, if you are having suicidal thoughts or if you are worried about someone close to you, contact 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553). A suicide prevention worker is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.