‘Blue Whale’ paper most cited in psychiatry journal

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20

A study by AIIMS psychiatrists on the Blue Whale Challenge that drove many children to suicides around 2018 has emerged the top cited article in a leading health sciences journal.

Wiley Health, which maintains a repository of medicine research, has reported that “The Blue Whale Challenge” by four AIIMS, New Delhi, researchers is the top cited paper. The research by Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, Rachana Bhargava, Ashish Pakhre and Nikita Bhati was the first global scientific study on the Blue Whale Challenge and contained recommendations based on consultations with a boy who accomplished the risky tasks assigned by the game.

The study was undertaken when there was no documented medical literature anywhere globally on the Blue Whale Challenge.

“We presented what was the first report on a consultation from a health care setting anywhere in the world for a child carrying out tasks accessed through a mobile phone application Blue Whale Game,” Ashish Pakhre told The Tribune, adding that researchers flagged the dangers of unregulated social media access to children and recommended age appropriate internet and mobile access.

The study is based on a student who presented to AIIMS Behavioral Addictions Clinic.

Study by AIIMS researchers

The study by four AIIMS researchers was the first global scientific study on the Blue Whale Challenge and contained recommendations based on consultations with a boy who accomplished the risky tasks assigned by the game.