Discussing depression, suicide and '13 Reasons Why'

Netflix announced it has greenlighted its series "13 Reasons Why" for a second season.

However, teens and parents are still wrestling with the first season, and its portrayal of depression, suicide, bullying and rape.

The show follows the story of a high school student in the weeks before and after she kills herself. She leaves cassette tapes placing blame for her suicide on several different people who are left to wrestle with their guilt.

The show's creators say they wanted to start a conversation about how brutal life can be for teenagers, but it has received a lot of criticism for the way it has shaped that discussion.

Many parents and educators are also worried about the show romanticizing suicide.

"I certainly understand the idea of [the show] was to bring suicide awareness to the forefront," said Phyllis Alongi, clinical director for the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide and licensed professional counselor, said on MPR News.

However, for Algoni and others, the series has some major faults.

"Clearly Hannah was struggling emotionally, and, you know, her story is portrayed in the absence of mental health issues. There was no mention of depression, post-trauma from what happened to her, anxiety ... very, very common diagnoses — and more importantly, treatable diagnoses," Alongi continued.

Another criticism is that the show does not include resources for where and how teens can get help.

Some are especially troubled by the school counselor's fumbling in the show and worried that it will discourage students from seeking help.

"We have kids watching 13 hours of this show without anyone to help process that with them," Alongi said.

She recommends that if kids watch the series, adults should educate themselves on the issue and ask them questions about the show like "Is there anything about Hannah that you identify with?" or "What would you do in that situation?" Since the show has been released, an additional episode with a clinical psychologist and other experts was released. "That piece was very well done," Alongi said. "Unfortunately, it's at the end."

Another major concern with the show is that it will ignite a contagion effect, where exposure to suicidal behavior will lead to more of it.

Ron Avi Astor, professor of school behavioral health at USC, points out that this is not a problem for every child who might watch the show. "But it really strongly influences that group is already thinking of suicide, and particularly the group that has a method, and by far the group that is influenced [the most] are those who have already attempted."

It's not just TV. This is a concern with any type of media, including reading something like Romeo and Juliet.

Astor gathers school data on how many students have "suicidal ideation" in California, and the results are staggering. It can be between 9 and 11 percent, depending on the year, he reports.

For schools in California and across the nation, it can be relatively easy to gather the data, but there's often an issue of what to do with it from there.

"Why aren't we, as a society I'm asking, going to those places where we know have suicidal ideation off the charts?" he asked. "And, instead of treating it as the kid's faults or just talking about it that way, why aren't we using a public health method to put [in] all the resources we can?"

Astor points out that this isn't an issue with all schools, but the nation needs to do a better job of promoting and modeling programs handling this issue well.

In many instances, that means making sure staff and students are informed.

One mother of five called in to credit her son's peer group for notifying the school and her about her child's suicide attempts.

Sarah, a clinical psychotherapist who works with teens, called into the discussion. She said: "If we aren't doing prevention around this, and only reacting when shows like this come out or when there is an actual death at the schools, then we have a huge missed opportunity there."