"13 Reasons Why", the best-selling book turned Netflix TV show, follows Hannah, a teen girl who is bullied and decides to end her own life.
"I finished '13 Reasons Why' - I was binge watching it in a day," said Claire Tietgen. "I was like 'mom, this is how I would have felt, this is how you would have felt.'"
But for Claire, it's more than a form of entertainment; it's a show that she can finally relate to. The 14-year-old has dealt with bullying for most of her life and even contemplated suicide.
POLL: Does Netflix's "13 Reasons Why" glamorize teen suicide? – https://t.co/21Nbsp9QF3
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"I've been bullied since I was in kindergarten," she said. "It got really bad in fourth grade when they could use bigger words, which wasn't helpful. It's still continuing, it's just how I picture it differently and how I tell people differently."
She got help from parents and now a healthy support system helps keep her feelings in check. Claire also became an anti-bullying advocate. She often travels across the nation on behalf of her non-profit, Bullied but Not Broken.
"Bullying is not okay and suicide is not okay," she explained. "I think ['13 Reasons Why'] shows the story of if you did kill yourself, all the people around you how they would feel."
But while the show resonates with teens like Claire, some mental health professionals worry that it could harm the very teens who relate to it.
Dr. Jennifer Keller-McDaniel, a clinical psychologist with Truman Medical Centerworries shows like "13 Reasons Why" will create suicide contagion, which is "the exposure to suicide or suicidal behaviors within one's family, one's peer group, or through media reports of suicide and can result in an increase in suicide and suicidal behaviors" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
Which is why Claire hopes teens use it not as a reason to die by suicide, but as a catalyst to talk to their parents, friends and schools.
"I'm glad I got help because I would have been dead by now if I wouldn't have gotten help," said Claire. "I learned how my parents would have felt, how my friends and my sisters and everyone would have felt. If I wouldn't have gotten help, I would have turned out this way. I feel bad because I would have put my parents through this, I would have put my friends through this. I'm glad I didn't because I would have caused them more harm than myself."
Dr. Keller-McDaniel urges anyone feeling suicidal to reach out for help from family, friends and medical personnel.
"It's important to listen and the earlier the intervention, the better," said Keller-McDaniel. "I think often times these kids have had cried for help that people have not listened to. So I think listening and trying to get the earliest intervention possible."
