Suicide Flashcards
Topics
1) Suicide definition & stats
2) Consequences of medical and psychological advances
3) ITM - Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory Model
4) Distinction between prediction of Ideation vs Enactment
5) IMVM - Integrated Motivational-Volition Model
6) Example of more individualized understanding
7) Example of increased suicide rates
8) Evolutionary causes
9) Animal self-sacrifice examples
10) Findings across wide range of populations
11) Difference between with a history of suicide attempts and those without
12) Effects of unemployment
13) Effects of impaired physical state
14) Suicide Treatment difficulties
15) Effective & ineffective treatments
16) Prevention
17) What we need to improve
Names and Years
1) WHO Global Health Organization (16) - Who who
2) Nock et al (08) - Knock Knock
3) Van Orden et al (16) - Van Dam orders
4) O’Conner & Kirtley (18) - O’Connor McGregor & Kirby
5) O’Connor (11) - O’Connor
6) (O’Connor & Kirtley) - O’Connor McGregor & Kirby
7) National Office for Suicide Prevention (16) - NOSP Nospetto
8) Canetto (15) - Cornetto
9) Corcoran et al (15) - Col Corano
10) Bourke (08) - Burka
11) Zweden et al (11) - Sweden
12) Van Orden et al (06) - Van Dam Orders
13) Borges et al (10) - Borgias
14) Wasserman et al (15) - Waterman
15) Schilling et al (14) - Shillings
Who who! Knock Knock Motherfuckers! Van Dam orders you to OPEN! Connor McGregor, Kirby! Open the door! Connor! Connor, Kirby! Open the fucking door! Nospetto a nessuno! I want to get a Cornetto! For Col Corano’s fucking sake! I’ll shoot the filthy Burkas in Sweden if you don’t open! I said: Van Dam Orders! I’ll call the Borgias & Waterman to bust this door OPEN!!! Please, I’ll give you Shillings!
Suicide definition & stats
•Act of taking one’s own life deliberately, going directly against one of human’s strongest instincts - The instinct for self-preservation.
•Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 years-olds
(WHO Global Health Estimates, 16)
Consequences of medical and psychological advances
Although suicidal thoughts and behaviours are among the most common, deadly, and potentially preventable public health problems, the devastating impact of this problem has remained quite CONSTANT despite the advances in medicine and psychological science
(Nock et al, 08)
ITM - Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory Model
•It explains how people get to the point of suicide.
Tripartite:
a) Perceived Burdensomeness - belief that one’s existence is of detriment to those around them and that others would be better off without the individual
b) Feeling of thwarted belongingness - feeling that one does not belong or feeling of loneliness
ab2) Hopelessness associated with the perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness - the individual has NO HOPE OF CHANGING those two things.
c) Capability of suicide - or fearlessness of physical pain and death
- High perceived burdensomeness + low levels of belongingness + hopelessness these states will not change –> Suicidal desire (Ideation)
- Suicidal Desire + acquired capability to attempt suicide –> suicide risk
Distinction between prediction of Ideation vs Enactment
Joiner’s ITM of suicide did not account for distinction between prediction of ideation versus enactment
(O’Connor, 11)
IMVM - Integrated Motivational-Volition Model
Theoretical perspective which explains the suicidal process consistent with the ideation-to-action framework
(O’Connor & Kirtley, 18)
- This model specifically hypothesizes that factors leading to suicidal thinking are distinct from those that govern behavioural enactment.
- Tripartite model:
a) Pre-motivation phase: The biopsychological context in which suicidal ideation and behaviour may merge (diathesis, environment, and life events)
b) Motivational phase: The factors that lead to the emergence of suicidal ideation ((feeling that one cannot escape defeat or humiliation, and hopelessness)
c) Volitional Phase: Factors that govern the transition from the suicidal ideation to suicide attempts (acquired capability for suicide, increased physical pain tolerance, glamorisation of suicide)
Example of more individualized understanding
•These models would help understand the issue on a more individual level as opposed to have general broad factors as possible determinants for suicide.
•An example of more individualized understanding, or at least a possible step towards it, is contributing to understand phenomena such as 80% of males accounting for suicide deaths in the States
(National Office for Suicide Prevention, 16)
•General sense of belongingness and emotional support are things that can greatly reduce one’s feelings of hopelessness, thwarted belongingness and their sense of burden which ultimately can lead to suicidal behaviours.
•Males do not have the same extended emotional support networks as females and are often stigmatized for showing emotions or expressing vulnerability which makes them more susceptible to suicidal behaviour
(Canetto, 15)
Example of increased suicide rates
The distorted perception that their death is more valuable than their life becomes instilled in their mind. Notions of this were evident during the time of recession in Ireland where male suicide increased by 58%
(Concoran et al, 15)
Evolutionary causes
This can also be seen from an evolutionary psychology standpoint. Among non-humans, there are numerous cases of lives of small minority being sacrificed to ensure the survival of the colony.
Animal self-sacrifice examples
•Examples of this are nest burying ants who seal their nest against predation but ultimately perish themselves
(Bourke, 08)
•Stingless bees who use a “death grip” to permanently lock their jaws on intruders which results in both the bee’s and the intruder’s death
(Zweden et al., 11)
•In these instances, within the broader context of species and colony survival, these insects’ death are viewed as being worth more than their lives.
Findings across wide range of populations
- For humans to seriously considering suicide, a similar mindset emerges, with at-risk individuals believing that their death will be worth more to others than their life.
- Findings from numerous studies implemented across a wide range of populations and settings confirm that perceptions of burdensomeness on others play a significant role in conferring risk for suicidal ideation. (Van Orden et al., 06)
Difference between with a history of suicide attempts and those without
Perceived burdensomeness has also been shown to differentiate those with a history of suicide attempts from those without an attempt history (Van Orden et al, 06)
Effects of unemployment
These findings align with established patterns of suicide risk revealing that individuals who are unemployed may be at elevated risk for suicide
(Borges et a, 10)
Effects of impaired physical state
- These individuals may believe that they are causing undue burden on family members, friends, and society as a whole which males may be more susceptible to as they may be operating under the narrative that they are the breadwinners of the home and without that role they are nothing.
- This may then lead them to tragically conclude that others would be better off without them and consequently attempt to die by suicide because their death may provide money from life insurance.
- Scenarios in which people die by suicide specifically because they believe their physical state (e.g. chronic illness) burdens others.
