.

His autopsy revealed that Williams had been suffering from Lewy body dementia, a condition that is often mistaken for other neurological disorders.

As recounted by Cobain biographer Charles R. Cross in the Seattle Weekly earlier this year, the aftermath was different from what Jobes anticipated:

[Jobes] was actually attending an international convention of suicide researchers that week; he heard the news sitting in a bar discussing trends in the field when a breaking news report came across the television in the background.

"It was not depression that killed Robin," she said. It takes a court order to get pictures that medical examiners may have taken as part of their postmortem investigations).

I asked Boyd whether the details released Tuesday would be disclosed in any case his office handled. "When that was revealed, that was like essentially finding out the name of my husband's killer." She also shared with People that while it's true that Williams had dealt with depression, LBD was likely what ultimately led to his death.

The findings suggest that intense media attention on such episodes triggered an immediate spike in similar suicide attempts.

I think in general we’re a little too ready to protect our audiences from what we judge to be the unpleasant details of the violence in which our culture sometimes seems to be immersed, whether that violence be our wars, violent crime or, yes, suicide. However, after his death, it was found that the diagnosis had been wrong. ‘This is going to be bad,’ we said.

We thought there was going to be an epidemic.”

Jobes’ extensive study found the opposite occurred. For instance.

Instead of this: Big or sensationalistic headlines, or prominent placement (e.g., “Kurt Cobain Used Shotgun to Commit Suicide”), do this: Inform the audience without sensationalizing the suicide and minimize prominence (e.g., “Kurt Cobain Dead at 27”).

The specific mention of Kurt Cobain in the recommendations is kind of interesting.

One recent study looked at what happened when media reported on a novel method of suicide in Taiwan in the late 1990s: asphyxiation brought about by lighting a charcoal fire indoors. There’s a growing body of evidence that media reporting on suicides can prompt more suicides. Kurt’s death “was the first time where articles appeared with little boxes that listed hotline numbers, signs of depression, and places to get help,” Jobes said.

By 2010, “charcoal burning suicide” had became the second most common method of taking one’s life in Taiwan (after hanging).

In response to growing attention to news media’s potential role in sparking copycat suicide episodes, suicide researchers, mental health experts and media partners have come up with a set of guidelines on how to treat the subject: Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide.

The recommendations seek to get media to emphasize the mental health and public health implications of suicide and to remove sensationalism from suicide coverage.

Too Graphic?

I called Boyd Wednesday to ask what factors guided the decision by the sheriff’s office to include what some have deemed graphic details of Williams’ death. "Depression was one of let's call it 50 symptoms and it was a small one."