A qualitative exploration of young people’s experiences of attempted suicide in the context of alcohol and substance use

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore young people’s experiences of the role and the processes underpinning the use of alcohol and/or other substances in attempts to end their life. Seven young people, aged 16–25 years old, were interviewed using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse these interviews and develop an understanding of how young people understand their attempted suicide in the context of alcohol and/or other substance use. The analysis identified four superordinate themes reflecting young people’s experiences across the seven interviews. Superordinate themes included: i) The complexity of relationships; ii) The double-edged sword of alcohol and substance use; iii) The straw that broke the camel’s back; and iv) Reflecting on the on-going processes of recovery. The results of this study highlight the complex and multifaceted functions of the consumption of alcohol, and other drugs, in the experiences of young people attempting suicide. Young people described a number of inter and intrapersonal factors which impact upon their suicidal experiences including suicidal ideation and attempts. Participants reported using alcohol and substances as methods of coping with distress, low mood, hearing voices, anxiety and mania. However they also reflected on the impact that this has on their own suicidal ideation and attempts.

The Psychological Experiences of Adolescent Suicide Attempt Patients : a systematic review of qualitative studies

“…Results of Literature Selection Initial Screening yielded a total of 2609 relevant articles, with the nal inclusion of 16 articles [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] . The literature selection process and results are illustrated in Figure 1.…”

“…Guest etal [11] UK poor life circumstances Bazrafshanetal [15] Iranian [20] America Hollidayetal [21] America/2015 trying to convert Dardasetal [22] Arabian Sukhawahaetal [23] Thailand /2016 Orrietal [25] Italy Aggarwal etal [10] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes B…”

“…Guest etal [11] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes B Keyvanar etal [12] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes A Ye Minghui etal [13] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes B Shilubane etal [14] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unclear Yes Yes Yes Yes B…”

“…It appears that at that moment, there is little to deter the determination to end one's life ('To be honest, I don't think so. I think... being in such a dark place or at least feeling like there's nothing that can pull me out of it, nothing to stop it' [11] ). Their minds seem uncontrollable, with suicidal thoughts prevailing ('I didn't know what to do.…”

Uncovering the role of substance use in suicide attempts using a mixed‐methods approach

“…A second study aim was to conduct a qualitative narrative analysis to determine pathways through which substance use played a role in suicide attempts. Previous studies using qualitative analysis have broadly identified themes of common stressors, emotion dysregulation, and coping strategies, as well as heterogeneity in the degree of planning (Guest et al., 2021; Skopp et al., 2019). Recently, researchers employed content analysis to examine warning signs present in the attempt narratives of adults with substance use problems and identified a range of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social cues associated with acute risk (Conner et al., 2022).…”