Perception of reports of suicide by healthy individuals Psychological theories on how healthy individuals perceive reports of suicide

This paper examines the various psychological theories that play a role in how healthy individuals perceive reports of suicide. It is based on the definition of the concept of health and an overview of existing theories in media effects research relating to reports of suicide (e.g. the Werther effect). The concepts of suicidality and depression are analysed as risk factors. Divided into the pre-communicative, communicative and post-communicative phases of the communication process, the various psychological theories are presented clearly and concisely, whilst affective, cognitive and conative factors are identified.