Animated media content and the Papageno effect: Experimental evidence for the suicide-preventive potential of coping-oriented narratives in the series BoJack Horseman.

Suicide-related media portrayals can exert both harmful and protective effects on suicide-related outcomes, with the Papageno effect describing suicide-preventive influences of coping-oriented portrayals. Adult animated series have largely been absent from research, despite animation's popularity and its distinctive capacity to externalize psychological states, rendering experiences of mental health crises and recovery particularly accessible to viewers. Using an experimental design (N = 146) with pre- and post-measures of suicidal thoughts, participants watched a brief video clip from the Netflix series BoJack Horseman depicting either successful coping with a suicidal crisis or a comparable clip without coping. Exposure to the coping-focused animated content significantly reduced suicidal thoughts. No reduction was observed in the control group. Animated video content may therefore represent a valuable complement to existing media-based suicide prevention strategies.