Department of Psychology, Harvard University.
Department of Psychology, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey.
J Psychopathol Clin Sci. 2023 May;132(4):385-395. doi: 10.1037/abn0000828. Epub 2023 Apr 6.
Nine percent of people worldwide report thinking about suicide at some point during their lives. A fundamental question we currently lack a clear answer to is: why do suicidal thoughts persist over time? One possibility is that suicidal thoughts serve adaptive functions for people who experience them. We tested whether suicidal thinking may serve as a form of affect regulation. In a real-time monitoring study among adults with recent suicidal thoughts ( = 105), we found that participants often endorsed using suicidal thinking as a form of affect regulation. The occurrence of suicidal thinking was followed by decreased negative affect. However, when assessing the direction of the relationship between suicidal thinking and negative affect, we also found positive bidirectional associations between them. Finally, using suicidal thinking as a form of affect regulation predicted the frequency and severity of suicidal thinking at later time points. These findings may help explain the persistence of suicidal thoughts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
全球有 9%的人在一生中的某个时刻报告过自杀念头。目前我们还没有明确答案的一个基本问题是：为什么自杀念头会随着时间的推移而持续存在？一种可能性是，自杀念头对经历过这些念头的人具有适应性功能。我们测试了自杀思维是否可能是一种情绪调节的形式。在一项对最近有自杀念头的成年人（n = 105）进行的实时监测研究中，我们发现参与者经常表示将自杀思维用作情绪调节的一种形式。自杀思维的出现伴随着负面情绪的减少。然而，当评估自杀思维和负面情绪之间的关系方向时，我们也发现了它们之间存在正向双向关联。最后，使用自杀思维作为一种情绪调节形式，预测了以后时间点自杀思维的频率和严重程度。这些发现可能有助于解释自杀念头的持续存在。
