Background Suicide is a global public health concern causing the death of 703 000 people each year. Adolescents are an especially vulnerable population. Suicidality usually starts with suicidal...Show moreBackground Suicide is a global public health concern causing the death of 703 000 people each year. Adolescents are an especially vulnerable population. Suicidality usually starts with suicidal ideation (SI); therefore, this may be a useful preliminary measure of suicidal intent, and a point for suicide prevention. Our understanding of suicide and strategies for its prevention have not improved much in the past 50 years, which may be due to a missing piece in our current theories of suicidality: they do not address the self and the role it plays in suicidality. However, there is a theory that systematically addresses the self, namely the ego in psychoanalytic theory. Of particular interest are ego mechanisms of defense. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ego mechanisms of defense and SI in adolescents to improve existing theories of suicidal behaviour by exploring whether specific ego mechanisms of defense can be identified as a risk factor for SI in adolescents aged 17-26. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted using self-report questionnaires. The sample consisted of 98 university students. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Results Immature and neurotic defensive categories were positive predictors of group membership of suicidal ideators, however only neurotic defense mechanisms were significant at p < 0.05. Displacement was also a positive predictor at p < 0.05. Finally, overall defensive functioning (ODF) had a significant negative correlation with SI at p < 0.05, however the logistic regression model was not significant. Conclusion Neurotic defensive category may be a useful predictor of SI. The defense mechanism displacement may also be a useful predictor of SI. ODF is negatively correlated with SI, suggesting a possibly useful relationship between the variables. These results are promising and seem worth further investigation, as defense mechanisms could be used as primary points of prediction and prevention of SI, and hence, suicidality.Show less
Sleep disturbances and disorders have been linked with increased suicidality. Research is just beginning to explore using sleep interventions to reduce suicidality, but until now has not considered...Show moreSleep disturbances and disorders have been linked with increased suicidality. Research is just beginning to explore using sleep interventions to reduce suicidality, but until now has not considered how sleep and suicidality change across the lifespan, and how that may impact the effectiveness of interventions. This study is the first meta-analysis examining whether sleep interventions are effective for reducing suicidality, and whether age has an impact on outcomes. A search was conducted on February 8th, 2022, using PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Article selection and data extraction was performed using the Covidence Systematic Review software. Twenty-one articles were included in this study. Sleep interventions were categorized as cognitive behavioural therapies (CBTs), circadian rhythm therapies (CRTs) and pharmacological therapies (PTs). Age groups were defined as adolescents (15-18), young adult college students (18-24), and adults (18-64). Sleep interventions overall had a small, significant effect size in reducing suicidality. CBTs and CRTs significantly reduced suicidality with small and medium effect sizes, but PTs did not. When stratified by age group, results found that sleep interventions overall significantly reduced suicidality in adolescents and adults with medium effect sizes, but there was no significant reduction in young adults. The results of this study suggest that sleep interventions may reduce suicidality and serve as a versatile and transdiagnostic treatment approach that deserves more focus. It also provides preliminary evidence that age may be a possible moderator for treatment effectiveness, and that future studies should include age as a moderator.Show less
Background: Social determinants - such as demographic, social, economic, and environmental factors - in our day-to-day life influence our mental health on a large scale, and it has been known that...Show moreBackground: Social determinants - such as demographic, social, economic, and environmental factors - in our day-to-day life influence our mental health on a large scale, and it has been known that our interactions with our environment affect us greatly. Evidence that support this matter is growing, especially the effect social determinants have on suicidality. Although research and clinical practices try to include this aspect, they fail to properly address the importance of the said social determinants in regard to mental health and suicide. Pre-existing literature considers social connectedness as nothing more than an indirect factor regarding mental health and suicidality, and only a small amount of research has focused on this aspect. Additionally, evidence shows that international students are at risk of developing mental health problems and suicidal ideation. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between perceived social connectedness and suicidal ideation in international students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted through Qualtrics, recruiting Leiden University students (n = 139). In order to test suicidal ideation, the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS) was used. To test perceived social connectedness, Social Connectedness Scale - Revised (SCS-R) was used. Respondents were also asked about their nationality in order to determine whether or not they were domestic or international students. The final sample included in order to perform simple linear regression was n = 55. Results: The results showed that higher perceived social connectedness significantly predicts lower suicidal ideation in international students and explains 16.7% of the variance in the population. Conclusions: Overall, the effect of social connectedness on suicidal ideation is evident. Without doubt, there are social determinants that contribute to our mental health and with the investigation of its components, we would be able to improve both theories of suicide and clinical interventions.Show less
The suicide note is a piece of text that often evokes emotional reactions within the reader, as it contains elements that are heavily personal. These feelings can be so “complex or overpowering”...Show moreThe suicide note is a piece of text that often evokes emotional reactions within the reader, as it contains elements that are heavily personal. These feelings can be so “complex or overpowering” that they “may require reflection and interpretation” (Boden, Gibson, Owen, and Benson, 2016). Boden et al. examined that “researchers will engage in some form of reflexivity, but fewer will examine how their feelings influence their analysis” (p. 1081). Feelings as a component of research is just an example of why qualitative research on the suicide note is important and necessary, as current research on this subject has mostly been quantitative. For instance, current research has shown that linguistic analysis of suicide notes can lead to a broader understanding of the suicidal mind, as “suicidal individuals are more self-focused, express more negative emotion and sometimes use more death-related words” (Tausczik and Pennebaker, 2010). However, the question is whether mere quantitative research is expedient enough to broaden our understanding of suicide, as purely quantitative methods lead to generalised results, which is undesirable (Stack & Rockett, 2018). In my thesis, I will review the relevant literature on how the suicide note as a text type is researched and argue that qualitative components should be incorporated in quantitative research to broaden our understanding of suicide.Show less
This paper tries to find an answer to the exceptionally high suicide rate among the young and the elderly in contemporary South Korea by identifying current social phenomena and trends in Korean...Show moreThis paper tries to find an answer to the exceptionally high suicide rate among the young and the elderly in contemporary South Korea by identifying current social phenomena and trends in Korean society. A cultural and sociological approach to suicide is used, and Durkheim's sociological theory of suicide is also mobilised in order to interpret and make sense of South Korea's suicide phenomenon. Ultimately, the identified phenomena of both social groups are analyzed, compared and contrasted in order to see if there is connection between the phenomena and the suicide rate of the South Korean youth and elders.Show less
Comparison of trends in work, family- and living conditions of Tokyo and Akita of the past years. Statistics of suicide will be compared while taking into account the theory of Durkheim.
