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An unexpected new explanation of seasonality in suicide attempts: Grey's Anatomy broadcasting

Seasonality is one of the oldest and most elucidation-resistant issues in suicide epidemiological research. Despite winter depression (also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD) is known and treated since many years, worldwide cross-sectional data from 28 countries show a lower frequency of suicide attempts around the equinoxes and a higher frequency in spring (both in Northern and Southern Hemisphere). This peak is not compatible with the SAD explanation. However, in recent years epidemiological research has yielded new results, which provide new perspectives on the matter. In fact, the discovery of a new pathology called Post-Series Depression (PSD) could provide an explanation of the suicide attempts pattern. The aim of this study is to analyse weekly data in order to compare them with the TV series broadcasting. Since medical observations in our sample are distributed over many years, in order to compare them as best as we can with the television programming, Grey's Anatomy series was chosen. This medical drama has been in the top 10 of most viewed TV series since 12 years and it is broadcast all over the world, so that it can be considered a universal and homogeneous phenomenon. A full season of the series is split into two separate units with a hiatus around the end of the calendar year, and it runs from September through May. Data analysis was made in order to prove the correlation between PSD and the increase of suicide attempts. Surprisingly, the data analysis shows that the increase of rate of suicide attempts does not coincide with the breaks in Grey's Anatomy scheduling, but with the series broadcasting. This therefore suggests that it is the series itself to increase the viewer's depression.