Köse Gonca, Evans Jonathan J, O'Connor Rory C
Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Türkiye.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jun 4;16:1574315. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1574315. eCollection 2025.
Although there is growing evidence that impaired positive future thinking is associated with suicide risk, the relationship between positive future thinking and suicidal thoughts or suicidal behaviours has yet to be completely understood. Therefore, this experimental study explored the role of positive future thinking in those with different suicidal histories.
Fifty-three adults were recruited to a study, which included completing a range of self-reported measures (suicidal history, suicide ideation, defeat, entrapment, depression, and death-related mental imagery) and experimental tasks (verbal fluency or cognitive performance task, positive future thinking task and positive-and negative-mood induction). The study compared 30 individuals who had a history of suicidal thoughts/behaviours and 23 with no suicidal history in terms of positive future thinking before and after a negative mood induction and on established psychological markers of suicide risk (e.g., depression, defeat, entrapment, and death-related mental imagery).
Participants with a history of suicidal thoughts/behaviours reported significantly fewer positive future thoughts (PFT) than participants without past suicidal thoughts/behaviours. Mean scores for PFT from pre-to post-negative mood induction decreased significantly in the participants with a history of suicidal thoughts/behaviours but not in those without a suicidal history. Individuals with a history of suicidal thoughts/behaviours reported significantly higher levels of death-related mental imagery, depression, entrapment, and defeat compared to those without past suicidal thoughts/behaviours.
This study provides experimental evidence that positive future thinking is implicated in the suicidal process. In addition, positive future thinking is affected by a negative mood induction, especially in individuals with a suicidal history. Changes in positive future thinking could be usefully assessed in clinical contexts.
尽管越来越多的证据表明积极的未来思维受损与自杀风险相关，但积极的未来思维与自杀念头或自杀行为之间的关系尚未完全明确。因此，本实验研究探讨了积极的未来思维在有不同自杀史的人群中的作用。
招募了53名成年人参与一项研究，其中包括完成一系列自我报告测量（自杀史、自杀意念、挫败感、被困感、抑郁以及与死亡相关的心理意象）和实验任务（语言流畅性或认知表现任务、积极的未来思维任务以及积极和消极情绪诱导）。该研究比较了30名有自杀念头/行为史的个体和23名无自杀史的个体在消极情绪诱导前后的积极未来思维情况，以及在已确定的自杀风险心理指标（如抑郁、挫败感、被困感和与死亡相关的心理意象）方面的差异。
有自杀念头/行为史的参与者报告的积极未来想法显著少于没有过去自杀念头/行为的参与者。在有自杀念头/行为史的参与者中，消极情绪诱导前后积极未来思维的平均得分显著下降，而在无自杀史的参与者中则没有下降。与没有过去自杀念头/行为的参与者相比，有自杀念头/行为史的个体报告的与死亡相关的心理意象、抑郁、被困感和挫败感水平显著更高。
本研究提供了实验证据，表明积极的未来思维与自杀过程有关。此外，积极的未来思维会受到消极情绪诱导的影响，尤其是在有自杀史的个体中。在临床环境中，对积极未来思维的变化进行评估可能会很有帮助。
