Suicide in Bangla Movie and Drama: A Content Analysis

We aimed to assess how suicidality has been depicted in Bangla movies and dramas. We conducted a search on YouTube by using search terms to identify movies and dramas with suicidal scripts. The search was performed between February and May 2022 resulting in 71 items consisting of 35 Bangla movies and 36 Bangla dramas. We scrutinized the contents of movies and dramas against our pre-designed instrument and we assessed their quality against World Health Organization guidelines. Among the 71 suicidal behaviors, 46.5% were suicides, 72% of the suicidal behavior was noted in young adults, 63.9% were unmarried, and 69% attempts were found in prominent characters. Hanging was found as the most prominent method (25.4%) and premarital and extramarital affairs and sexual harassment were the most prominent risk factors (60.6%). The potentially harmful characteristics were present in almost all events whereas potentially helpful contents were mentioned very minimally.