Has Sushant Singh Rajput's death by suicide triggered vulnerable people to commit suicide? We asked experts

By Lipi Upadhyay

It has been close to one month since one of the brightest stars of the Hindi film industry, Sushant Singh Rajput, died by suicide in his Bandra residence. It will be a gross understatement to say that his tragic death came as a huge shocker for the whole nation as for his millions of fans, time seems to have stood still, ever since. Sushant’s untimely demise has also triggered an uproar of debate on mental health conditions, lobbying and nepotism in Bollywood and a lot of his fans, who used to consider the doe-eyed star one of their own, started slamming and targeting star kids on social media handles.

After the actor’s death, there were several tragic incidents of fans committing suicide citing unbearable grief and pain. Infact, a young buy from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, died by suicide just days after learning about Sushant’s death. According to several reports, this boy, who was studying in 10th standard, allegedly wrote in suicide letter, “If he can do it why can’t I.” Sadly, this terrifying piece of news was not an isolated incident across the nation.

Soon after Sushant’s death, the news of the suicide of a teenage TikTok star, who enjoyed massive popularity across various social media platforms, started doing rounds. After the teenager’s demise, another 18-year-old TikTok star died by suicide. It was reported that the girl was suffering from depression and was pushed to the edge after the ban was announced on TikTok, which is a video-making platform.

The news of Kannada actor Susheel Gowda's death by suicide on 7 July left many distraught and in a state of numbness. For the uninitiated, Susheel Gowda was an actor and fitness trainer and was known for his role in Kannada soap opera Anthapura.

These deaths beg a question whether Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise may have also impacted the fragile minds of those already battling suicidal thoughts and active and passive suicide ideations. To understand it, we spoke to Charvi Jain, Counselling Psychologist and Psychotherapist and the founder of Over a Cup of Tea, a psychological wellness Centre.

She said that we feel like we know celebrities to a large extent because we read about them, we connect with their characters and even follow their social media handles. “We even think of them or their scenes when we face similar situations as their movies or on-screen events. For example, if you were to face adversity and you wouldn’t know how to deal with it, your brain might bring up resources based on the people you’ve read about or seen to serve as markers. Often, at that challenging time, you would immediately connect with characters from movies, and think: “Oh, they faced this particular life challenge so well.” In that way, celebrities can serve as motivation for us. And when they depart, we often feel a sense of loss that is very real. In a sense, that also means they often represent the best parts of us.”

Charvi further elaborated that Sushant Singh’s passing away has been even more personal for the younger generation because he seemed very relatable. He started from scratch and had big dreams like all of us do. It can feel very unnerving to know that he took his own life away.

We are meaning-makers. We like things to make sense. We believe in religions that provide an account for why the world is the way it is.

We pursue goals that fit our conceptions of ourselves in the world. So when a successful celebrity decides to take his own life, it becomes difficult to make sense of it. It can make us question the whys - our own reason for living. It makes us ask where we ourselves are headed, and what is the meaning of it all.

Charvi also noted that people in a vulnerable state, especially those who are already battling depression, may feel like taking their own life as an acceptable norm since a known celebrity has done it. Celebrities are a big influence on the minds of people, what they wear, what they do, their fashion sense, are always imitated. Hence, their action of taking their own life can suggest that it is okay to do so. There have been various studies too that also imply how a celebrity’s suicide can be contagious and can lead to more people in depression to be triggered by it. It is in this regard that it has been included in the media guideline to refrain from describing the exact method of death, for people may get triggered to imitate it.

Counseling Psychologist Ms Rachana Awatramani had a similar opinion about the victims of suicide following Sushant’s death. She said, “The impact of a celebrity losing his life due to suicide is huge and recent example is Sushant Singh Rajput. Sometimes fans and people around them follow their footsteps and copy the celebrity's actions. Nevertheless, the actual reason behind the suicide clusters that happen is hard to comprehend. Copycat suicide is also commonly seen with youngsters. This is also because most research focuses on the age group which is under 25.”

She further reinstates that awareness and openness to talk about suicide ideation is needed. It is important to know that options are available as those battling mental health disorders, psychiatric inpatients, minority groups are considered in the high-risk groups.