A comparison of specific positive future expectancies and global hopelessness as predictors of suicidal ideation in a prospective study of repeat self-harmers

O’Connor, Rory C.; Fraser, Louisa; Whyte, Marie-Claire; MacHale, Siobhan; Masterton, George

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2008.01.008

Cited by 80 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous research has also shown that it is a better predictor of future suicidal ideation than BHS (O'Connor et al, 2008). Therefore it may be a useful tool in the assessment of hopelessness in this population.…”

Section: The Relationship Between Self-reported Hopelessness and Posimentioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Future‐directed thinking in first‐episode psychosis

Goodby

MacLeod

2015

British J Clinic Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectivesThis study employed the Future Thinking Task (MacLeod et al., 2005, Br. J. Clin. Psychol., 44, 495) to investigate whether future‐directed thinking in first‐episode psychosis is significantly different from that of matched controls, and to identify its correlates in this patient group.DesignCross‐sectional, mixed‐model, case–control design.MethodParticipants were 30 patients with first‐episode psychosis and 27 matched controls. The Future Thinking Task was used to assess future‐directed thinking in both groups. Anxiety and depression were also measured as well as self‐report measures of hopelessness, suicide ideation and a measure of negative symptoms.ResultsIndividuals with psychosis were impaired in future‐directed thinking in both positive and negative domains, particularly with respect to the coming year. Increased self‐reported hopelessness was associated with reduced positive future thinking and increased negative future thinking. Increased positive future thinking was also associated with reduced severity of negative symptoms, whilst negative future thinking was associated with suicide ideation.ConclusionsIndividuals with first‐episode psychosis show a reduction in positive future thinking in line with that seen in other clinical groups, but this is accompanied by an unexpected reduction in negative future thinking. The findings suggest a general disengagement with the future in this group that may affect recovery and functioning.Practitioner points Individuals with first‐episode psychosis may benefit from interventions to help them engage with their future, in particular in the mid‐range, up to 1 year. The Future Thinking Task may be a helpful addition to the assessment of suicide risk in those with first‐episode psychosis. Decreased positive future thinking was associated with increased severity of negative symptoms, indicating a potential new treatment angle for this resistant aspect of psychosis. The cross‐sectional design of this study does not allow for conclusions about the causal relationship between psychosis and future‐directed thinking. This study investigated future‐directed thinking in individuals with a range of psychotic illnesses employing a trans‐diagnostic approach; therefore, conclusions cannot be drawn about the nature of future‐directed thinking in individual psychotic disorders.

show abstract

Section: The Relationship Between Self-reported Hopelessness and Posimentioning

confidence: 93%

“…However, studies of the correlation between self-reported hopelessness and suicidal ideation have shown a large effect size (Kao et al, 2012;O'Connor et al, 2008). To achieve 80% power to detect a large correlation at an alpha level of 5%, a sample size of 29 within the psychosis group was needed.…”

Section: Power Calculationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future‐directed thinking in first‐episode psychosis

Goodby

MacLeod

2015

British J Clinic Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Positive emotions in suicidal patients have been linked to improved problem-solving [17], and a study of patients hospitalized for self-harm found that low positive future orientation more strongly predicted recurrent selfharm after discharge than did global hopelessness [18]. Therefore, explicit targeting of positive cognitive and emotional states like gratitude and positive future orientation may have effects on suicide risk above and beyond standard approaches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and utility of positive psychology exercises for suicidal inpatients

Huffman

DuBois

Healy

et al. 2014

General Hospital Psychiatry

133

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: The objective was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of nine positive psychology exercises delivered to patients hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or behaviors, and to secondarily explore the relative impact of the exercises. Method: Participants admitted to a psychiatric unit for suicidal ideation or behavior completed daily positive psychology exercises while hospitalized. Likert-scale ratings of efficacy (optimism, hopelessness, perceived utility) and ease of completion were consolidated and compared across exercises using mixed models accounting for age, missing data and exercise order. Overall effects of exercise on efficacy and ease were also examined using mixed models. Results: Fifty-two (85.3%) of 61 participants completed at least one exercise, and 189/213 (88.7%) assigned exercises were completed. There were overall effects of exercise on efficacy (χ 2 =19.39; P=.013) but not ease of completion (χ 2 =11.64; P=.17), accounting for age, order and skipped exercises. Effect (Cohen's d) of exercise on both optimism and hopelessness was moderate for the majority of exercises. Exercises related to gratitude and personal strengths ranked highest. Both gratitude exercises had efficacy scores that were significantly (P=.001) greater than the lowest-ranked exercise (forgiveness). Conclusion: In this exploratory project, positive psychology exercises delivered to suicidal inpatients were feasible and associated with short-term gains in clinically relevant outcomes.

show abstract

“…Moreover, low levels of positive future thinking, rather than the preponderance of negative future thinking, were a better predictor of suicidal ideation than hopelessness, in patients who had attempted suicide [22,23]. Additionally, suicidal ideation were significantly higher 2.5 months after a suicide attempt among persons who reported difficulties to reengage in new goals when those they were pursuing were unobtainable [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Helping people who lost interest in life engage in new personal projects that offer meaning to their life could be an innovative prevention strategy [23,24,25,26]. This is especially important in old age when illnesses or disability make goals unattainable, and consequently increase the wish to die and suicidal ideation [27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%