Background The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide states that to make a serious or lethal suicide attempt a person must experience reductions in fear and pain sensitivity sufficient to overcome self preservation reflexes (i.e., the acquired capability for suicide). The purpose of the current study was to examine the fearlessness component of the acquired capability for suicide using self-report assessment instruments and an objective measure of aversion (the affectively modulated startle reflex task). Methods Depressed suicide ideators (n = 15), depressed suicide attempters (n = 15), and a group of control participants (n = 14) were compared on their self-report of acquired capability and painful and provocative life events and completed the affectively modulated startle reflex task. This task compared electromyography recordings of participants’ eye-blink response to a startle probe while viewing pictures of varying hedonic valence (neutral, positive, negative, and suicide-related). Results Suicide attempters reported the highest levels of fearlessness and pain insensitivity and a greater history of painful and provocative life events. While no group differences were found on the psychophysiology data, participants reacted to suicide-related images with less aversion compared to neutral images with no differences between suicide-related and positive images. Conclusions Self-reported fearlessness and pain insensitivity can differentiate suicide attempters and suicide ideators. Results suggest that one’s self-perception (i.e., cognitions regarding fear and pain tolerance) are more functionally related to suicide attempts than psychophysiological reactivity to suicide-related stimuli.

The current review aims to present a functional model of the acquired capability for suicide; a component of Joiner’s (2005) Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide. This review is aimed at integrating the points discussed by Joiner into a unified and specific conceptualization of acquired capability. Additionally, we offer some points of elaboration; such as the interaction between specific diatheses with life events, the role of short-term bolstering of the capability for suicide, and how contextual factors moderate the experience of painful and provocative life events; thereby leading to fearlessness and pain insensitivity to the actions and ideas involved in suicide.

Our aim was to investigate two personality traits (i.e., stoicism and sensation seeking) that may account for well-established gender differences in suicide, within the framework of the interpersonal theory of suicide. This theory proposes that acquired capability for suicide, a construct comprised of pain insensitivity and fearlessness about death, explains gender differences in suicide. Across two samples of undergraduates (N = 185 and N = 363), men demonstrated significantly greater levels of both facets of acquired capability than women. Further, we found that stoicism accounted for the relationship between gender and pain insensitivity, and sensation seeking accounted for the relationship between gender and fearlessness about death. Thus, personality may be one psychological mechanism accounting for gender differences in suicidal behavior.

Identifying elevated suicide ideation in college students is a critical step in preventing suicide attempts and deaths by suicide on college campuses. Although suicide ideation may be most prominent in students with severe depression, this should not suggest that only students with severe depression experience significant risk factors for suicide. Objective The purpose of these 3 studies was to explore the relation between suicide ideation and severity of depressive symptoms in college students. Participants In each study a sample of college students were recruited for participation. Methods Participants completed self-report assessments of depressive symptoms and suicide ideation. Results The results of these studies suggest that although the greatest elevation in suicide ideation occurs at the highest depressive symptoms, significant suicide ideation is also experienced by college students with mild and moderate depressive symptoms. Conclusions The implications of these findings for the assessment of suicide ideation are discussed.

In this study we examined relations of positive and negative religious coping with risk for suicidal behavior in a sample of Iraq and/or Afghanistan Veterans. Participants completed self-report instruments assessing risk for suicidal behavior, religious coping, general combat exposure, morally injurious experiences, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Frequency analyses revealed that half of all participants endorsed being religious, and adaptively drawing on religion to cope was more common than maladaptive coping. However, positive religious coping was not associated with suicidal behavior at the time of the study. In contrast, negative religious coping was uniquely associated with the risk for suicide when we controlled for demographic risk factors, war-zone experiences, depression, and PTSD. Although we expect adaptive reliance on religion to be beneficial for mental health, veterans who experience internal and/or external conflicts in the spiritual domain may be at increased risk for engaging in suicidal behavior following their war-zone service.