  Seasonality is one of the oldest and most elucidation-resistant issues in
suicide epidemiological research. Despite winter depression (also known as
Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD) is known and treated since many years,
worldwide cross-sectional data from 28 countries show a lower frequency of
suicide attempts around the equinoxes and a higher frequency in spring (both in
Northern and Southern Hemisphere). This peak is not compatible with the SAD
explanation. However, in recent years epidemiological research has yielded new
results, which provide new perspectives on the matter. In fact, the discovery
of a new pathology called Post-Series Depression (PSD) could provide an
explanation of the suicide attempts pattern. The aim of this study is to
analyse weekly data in order to compare them with the TV series broadcasting.
Since medical observations in our sample are distributed over many years, in
order to compare them as best as we can with the television programming, Grey's
Anatomy series was chosen. This medical drama has been in the top 10 of most
viewed TV series since 12 years and it is broadcast all over the world, so that
it can be considered a universal and homogeneous phenomenon. A full season of
the series is split into two separate units with a hiatus around the end of the
calendar year, and it runs from September through May. Data analysis was made
in order to prove the correlation between PSD and the increase of suicide
attempts. Surprisingly, the data analysis shows that the increase of rate of
suicide attempts does not coincide with the breaks in Grey's Anatomy
scheduling, but with the series broadcasting. This therefore suggests that it
is the series itself to increase the viewer's depression.
