Overcoming the fear of death: Suicide capability within the ideation-to-action framework

Overcoming the fear of death: Suicide capability within the ideation-to-action framework

Suicide capability is suggested to facilitate the movement from suicidal ideation to suicide attempt. The most recent conceptualisation of capability is multifaceted and comprises acquired, dispositional, and practical contributors. Despite this multifaceted conceptualisation, research has tended to focus on acquired contributors using cross-sectional studies. Therefore, how contributors combine and interact to facilitate suicide attempts is less known. This mixed methods program of research sought to address these gaps by undertaking three studies: a scoping review, a collective case study that consisted of open-ended interviews with suicide attempt survivors, and an ecological momentary assessment study of capability comprising both suicide ideators and suicide attempters. Findings from the scoping review revealed that painful and provocative events may be more influential than fearlessness about death within the acquired contributor and capability may include a fourth cognitive contributor. Suicide attempt survivor narratives indicated that acquired and practical contributors appear to combine through interactions rather than an additive effect. Also within their narratives was individual agency being critical for both the decision to and actions taken when moving, readying, and attempting suicide. The final study found that increases and/or elevated acquired, practical, and perceived capabilities, and suicidal mental imagery might indicate an individual is readying to act on suicidal ideation. This program of research refined, extended, and advanced theoretical understanding of suicide capability within the ideation-to-action framework. Methodological advancements for suicide research included the value of conducting the most appropriate literature review for conceptual advancement, the usefulness of narratives from suicide attempt survivors for generating theoretical insights about the movement from ideation-to-action, and how ecological momentary assessments can help capture and conceptualise the moments leading up to and including self-harm.

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author/creator.