ANDERSON, Ind. — Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” has sparked conversation among health professionals who cite a recently released study showing a marked increase in online searches for suicide-related terms since the show’s debut.

The 13-episode series, based on Jay Asher’s best-selling 2007 novel, focuses on a teenage girl who commits suicide and leaves tapes explaining 13 reasons for taking her own life. When it first aired in late March, it was immediately controversial, in part because of a graphic three-minute scene depicting the girl’s suicide.

The Journal of the American Medical Association, a peer-reviewed medical journal, released research in late July showing that search queries of “suicide,” “how to commit suicide” and other related queries increased by 19 percent following the release of the show.

JAMA monitored internet searches between the March 31 release of the show and April 18 using Google Trends. The research didn’t monitor for phrases after April 18 because former NFL player Aaron Hernandez committed suicide on April 19, and researchers knew the high-profile case would affect search inquiries for the phrases they were monitoring.

The amount of search queries for “how to commit suicide” rose by 26 percent, and the amount of times “how to kill yourself” was searched increased by 9 percent.

Research shows search queries such as these correlate with an increase in the amount of suicide attempts.

The series was discussed at a recent suicide prevention conference at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville. Ruthie Smith, a licensed practical nurse at Community Hospital in Anderson, attended the conference and put the information she learned about the show to immediate use in her role as a mentor working with at-risk teens in the community.

“There was a lot of discussion about how that is influencing teens,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to put this to use today.’”

Smith said at the coalition meeting that at least one teen in the group connected with her later to discuss suicidal thoughts, so she was able to help the teen. Smith said much of the conversation with the teenagers surrounded the difference between reality and fiction.

“That’s what I was trying to explain to these kids,” she said. “You don’t get a Netflix series if you’re successful. This isn’t something that is going to bring you fame.”

Filchak writes for the Anderson, Indiana, Herald Bulletin.