Lawrence Hannah R, Nesi Jacqueline, Schwartz-Mette Rebecca A
Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Division of Clinical Psychology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Emerg Adulthood. 2022 Oct;10(5):1216-1221. doi: 10.1177/21676968211001593. Epub 2021 Mar 30.
Rates of suicidal ideation and behavior are high and increasing in emerging adulthood. Research focused on suicidal ideation as a predictor of suicidal behavior has nearly exclusively conceptualized suicidal ideation as verbal thoughts about suicide. Emerging research suggests, however, that mentally imagining suicide may be even more impairing than verbal thoughts about suicide. Thirty-nine emerging adults with a lifetime history of suicidal cognitions completed self-report assessments of characteristics of their suicidal cognitions, histories of suicide plans and behavior, and the degree to which their suicidal cognitions took the form of mental imagery or verbal thought. Suicidal mental imagery predicted more intense and longer duration of suicidal cognitions, a higher likelihood of having made a suicide plan, and a higher likelihood of having made a suicide attempt over and above suicidal verbal thoughts. Thus, suicidal mental imagery could provide a novel target for suicide assessment and intervention for emerging adults.
在成年初期，自杀意念和行为的发生率很高且呈上升趋势。以自杀意念作为自杀行为预测指标的研究几乎都将自杀意念概念化为关于自杀的言语想法。然而，新出现的研究表明，在脑海中想象自杀可能比关于自杀的言语想法更具损害性。39名有自杀认知终生史的成年初期个体完成了关于其自杀认知特征、自杀计划和行为史，以及其自杀认知以心理意象还是言语想法形式出现程度的自我报告评估。与自杀言语想法相比，自杀心理意象预示着更强烈、持续时间更长的自杀认知，制定自杀计划的可能性更高，以及自杀未遂的可能性更高。因此，自杀心理意象可为成年初期个体的自杀评估和干预提供一个新的靶点。
