title: Google Trends: Ready for real-time suicide prevention or just a Zeta-Jones effect? An exploratory study.
abstract: Two studies have shown that increasing the consultation of the word "suicide" in the Google search engine was associated with a subsequent increase in the prevalence of suicide attempts. The main goal of this article was to explore the trends generated by a key-word search associated with suicide, depression and bipolarity in an attempt to identify general trends (disorders epidemics in the population/"real events" vs newsworthy advertisement/"media event"). Based on previous studies, the frequency of the search words "how to suicide" and "commit suicide" were analyzed for suicide, as well as "depression" (for depressive disorders) and "bipolar disorder". Together, these analyses suggest that the search for the words "how to suicide" or "commit suicide" on the Google search engine may be a good indicator for suicide prevention policies. However, the tool is not developed enough to date to be used as a real time dynamic indicator of suicide epidemics. The frequency of the search for the word "suicide" was associated with those for "depression" but not for "bipolar disorder", but searches for psychiatric conditions seem to be influenced by media events more than by real events in the general population.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U955, Translational Psychiatry team, Paris Est University, DHU Pe-PSY, Pôle de Psychiatrie des Hôpitaux Universitaires H Mondor, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Fondation de Cooperation en Santé Mentale, France; Network of Expert centres for Schizophrenia, Créteil 94000, France. Electronic address: guillaume.fond@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fond
authors.affiliation: Fondation Fondamental, Fondation de Cooperation en Santé Mentale, France.
authors.forename: Alexandru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaman
authors.affiliation: INSERM U955, Translational Psychiatry team, Paris Est University, DHU Pe-PSY, Pôle de Psychiatrie des Hôpitaux Universitaires H Mondor, Créteil, France; Fondation Fondamental, Fondation de Cooperation en Santé Mentale, France; Network of Expert centres for Schizophrenia, Créteil 94000, France.
authors.forename: Lore
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brunel
authors.affiliation: Fondation Fondamental, Fondation de Cooperation en Santé Mentale, France; Department of Clinical Psychiatry, CIC-1431, University Hospital of Besançon, EA Neurosciences 481, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haffen
authors.affiliation: Fondation Fondamental, Fondation de Cooperation en Santé Mentale, France; CHU Clermont Ferrand, France; Network of Expert centres for Schizophrenia, Créteil 94000, France.
authors.forename: Pierre-Michel
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Llorca
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D008402:Mass Media; D018570:Risk Assessment; D057386:Search Engine; D012660:Semantics; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends*; D000092864:Suicide Prevention
keywords: Bipolar; Depression; Google; Internet; Prevention; Suicide