In this study, we introduce the construct of the suicidal narrative, a hypothetical personal narrative linked to imminent suicide, and explore its relationship to near-term suicidal risk and the suicide crisis syndrome (SCS). Psychiatric outpatients (N = 289) were administered the Columbia Suicide-Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Suicide Crisis Inventory (SCI), and Suicide Narrative Inventory (SNI), a novel instrument combining the documented risk factors of Thwarted Belongingness, Perceived Burdensomeness, Humiliation, Social Defeat, Goal Disengagement, and Goal Reengagement. Dimensional measures of past month, lifetime, and past suicidal phenomena, incorporating ideation and behavior, were calculated from the C-SSRS. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the interaction among variables. Factor analysis of the SNI yielded two orthogonal factors, termed Interpersonal and Goal Orientation. The former factor was comprised of Perceived Burdensomeness, Social Defeat, Humiliation, and Thwarted Belongingness, the latter of Goal Disengagement and Goal Reengagement. The Interpersonal factor correlated with both SCS severity and suicidal phenomena in each time frame and the Goal Orientation factor with no other variable. As hypothesized, the proposed model was significant for the past month only. Our findings support the construct of the suicidal narrative and its function as a near-term suicidal risk factor.
Objective: Affective states and rumination have each been linked to suicidal ideation; however, to our knowledge, no studies have examined their interactive effect in predicting suicidal ideation in the short term. The present study examined the concurrent and short-term prospective relationships between affective states, rumination, and suicidal ideation using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Method: A sample of 237 community-based adults at high risk for suicide (Mage = 27.12 years, 61.6% cisgender women) responded to six EMA prompts each day for 2 weeks that assessed their momentary affective states (depression, anxiety, happiness, hopelessness, agitation, irritability), rumination, and suicidal ideation. Results: Rumination moderated the relationship between concurrent affective states and suicidal ideation, at both the within-person and between-person levels. Specifically, the relations between affective states and suicidal ideation were stronger at higher levels of rumination. These interaction effects were not found when examining short-term prospective associations. Conclusions: Affective states and rumination may each confer risk for suicidal ideation in the short term, and rumination may serve as a catalyst of the link between affective states and suicidal ideation when examined concurrently. Clinical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
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