Cognitive Reactivity, Suicidal Ideation and Future Fluency: Preliminary Investigation of a Differential Activation Theory of Hopelessness/Suicidality

Abstract

The authors investigated whether the re-emergence of hopeless/suicidal cognitions over time can be explained within a differential activation framework. Studies 1 (N = 146) and 2 (N = 136) showed that individuals who reported suicidal ideation when depressed in the past had higher scores on the hopelessness/suicidality subscale of a measure assessing cognitive reactivity to low mood, the LEIDS. Study 3 (N = 32) demonstrated that self-reports on this subscale predicted changes in generativity for positive future events, an experimental measure of processes underlying hopelessness/suicidality, following sad mood induction. The results provide preliminary evidence that history of suicidal ideation is related to a specific cognitive response pattern, which may be reactivated by mild fluctuations in mood.

Cognitive and serotonergic vulnerability to depression: Convergent findings.

“…The scale has 26 items that cover changes in rumination, hopelessness, aggressive thoughts, risk taking, and perfectionism (e.g., "When I feel sad, I more often think that I can make no one happy"; "When in a sad mood, I more often think about how my life could have been different"; "When I feel down, I more often feel hopeless about everything"; "When I feel somewhat depressed, I think I can permit myself fewer mistakes"). As noted earlier, several studies support the validity of the scale as a measure of CR (Merens et al, 2005;Van der Does, 2002a, 2002b, 2005Williams et al, 2006). The mean score of the LEIDS was 24.4 (SD ϭ 12.4) in a healthy population and 36.4 (SD ϭ 15) in a previously depressed sample (Van der Does, 2005).…”

Repetitive negative thinking as a predictor of depression and anxiety: A longitudinal cohort study

“…Depressive rumination was assessed using the subscale Rumination on Sadness of the revised version of the Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity (LEIDS-R; Van der Does, 2002;Williams et al, 2008). The subscale Rumination on Sadness (RUM) consists of 6 items.…”

Fra laboratoriet til terapirommet

“…Hensikten med denne artikkelen er ikke primaert å gå i detalj om modellen i seg selv, siden denne allerede er godt beskrevet i Williams sin bok, Cry of Pain: Understanding Suicide and the Suicidal Mind (1997;2014). Jeg vil imidlertid her trekke frem en annen og kanskje mindre opplagt grunn til at denne modellen markerer en dreining i selvmordsfeltet: Modellen, dens beslektede Differential Activation Theory of Hopelessness/Suicidality (DAH) (Williams et al, 2008), og arbeidet dette rammeverket ga opphav til, markerte en endring i selve måten vi forsker på selvmord og suicidal atferd på. Valideringen av Cry of Pain og DAHrammeverket har gitt eksperimentelle metoder for å teste teorier om suicidalitet en plattform i selvmordsforskning, og har gitt eksperimentelt psykopatologidesign en relevans som man tidligere har sett mer av innen andre former for klinisk forskning.…”

“…I klinisk kontekst ønsker vi imidlertid ikke bare å avklare hva som gjør at suicidale tanker og impulser blir aktivert, men betingelsene for at de er tilbakevendende. Differensiell aktiveringsteori (DAH; Williams et al, 2008, Williams et al, 2016 postulerer at lavt stemningsleie ved depresjon, og fungerer som en kontekst for koaktivering av negativt tankeinnhold («ingen vil noengang elske meg») og maladaptive prosesseringsmodi (e.g. tunnelsyn, grubling, unnvikelse) -som til sammen skaper en depressiv respons, eller «mindlock» (Gjelsvik, 2014).…”

“…tunnelsyn, grubling, unnvikelse) -som til sammen skaper en depressiv respons, eller «mindlock» (Gjelsvik, 2014). I følge dette rammeverket kan sårbarhet for tilbakevendende suicidalitet forklares med individuelle forskjeller i hvor lett denne depressive modusen blir reaktivert ved temporaert lavt stemningsleie (Williams et al, 2008).…”