[Without writing on the ethical issues of producing such a show or the validity of the studies]
The Netflix spokesperson's response is utter nonsense:
"The spokesperson noted that the study conflicts with research published last week out of the University of Pennsylvania. That study found that young adults, ages 18-29, who watched the entire second season of the show 'reported declines in suicide ideation and self-harm relative to those who did not watch the show at all.'"
There isn't any conflict at all. The original study being discussed is data on the release of Season 1. Data on the effect of Season 2 is irrelevant (not to mention the article's note that the second study is still problematic regarding those who did not watch the entire season).
Ghastly thought: If the show didn't increase suicidal ideation in healthy individuals, but did make those with existing suicidal thoughts more likely to kill themselves, an observer would see a decrease in reported suicidal thought among the remaining viewers.
They also study two different age ranges. The increase in suicides was among youth ages 10-17, while the 18-34 group saw no change. This seems especially disingenuous to me.
The Netflix spokesperson's response is utter nonsense:
"The spokesperson noted that the study conflicts with research published last week out of the University of Pennsylvania. That study found that young adults, ages 18-29, who watched the entire second season of the show 'reported declines in suicide ideation and self-harm relative to those who did not watch the show at all.'"
There isn't any conflict at all. The original study being discussed is data on the release of Season 1. Data on the effect of Season 2 is irrelevant (not to mention the article's note that the second study is still problematic regarding those who did not watch the entire season).