Personal Stigma in Suicide Attempters

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore suicide attempters' experiences of personal stigma. This qualitative study included a focus group of 7 experienced clinicians and semi-structured interviews with 8 suicide attempters. Thematic analysis of the data yielded four main themes: seriousness, care, "badness," and avoidance. Experiences of stigma pervaded all contexts, but were most emotionally upsetting to the participants in interpersonal relationships. The findings show the importance of evaluating stigma for suicide attempters during suicide risk assessment and the need for specifically tailored interventions to combat suicide stigma at the individual level.

Cross‐national comparisons of attitudes towards suicide and suicidal persons in university students from 12 countries

“…Participants with a history of suicidal behavior were less accepting of, less willing to help, and less emotionally involved in but more disapproving of a suicidal disclosure by a close friend undergoing a suicidal crisis than those who were never suicidal. It seems that participants with a history of suicide ideation or attempt are characterized by self‐stigma to a greater extent than their counterparts which is in line with previous research (Reynders, Kerkhof, Molenberghs & Van Audenhove, ; Rimkeviciene, Hawgood, O'Gorman & De Leo, ).…”

Factors related to suicide’s unpredictability: a qualitative study of adults with lived experience of suicide attempts

“…Sheehan et al (2016) also found non-fatal suicide attempters were commonly seen as attention-seeking, selfish, incompetent, emotionally weak, and immoral. Additionally, attempters in another study indicated feelings of stigma related to overgeneralization about the severity of their attempt, creating feelings of hopelessness regarding their recovery (Rimkeviciene, Hawgood, O'Gorman, & De Leo, 2015). It is apparent that feelings of stigma experienced by suicide attempters may even further increase risk of subsequent suicidal behaviors (Oexle et al, 2018).…”

Die Darstellung der Institution Psychiatrie im Roman – Vorschlag einer (semi-)standardisierten Erfassung

“…Open City ist der zeitgenössische Roman eines geisteswissenschaftlich gebildeten und mit mehreren Literaturpreisen bedachten Autors, der die Psychiatrie zwar nicht zum Hauptthema macht, ihr aber einen Stellenwert im Roman zukommen lässt, indem er dem Ich-Erzähler die Rolle eines jungen Psychiaters zuweist. Das Haus Nire ist eine Familiensaga des in Japan mehrfach preisgekrönten Autors Morio Kita, die über 3 Generationen hinweg den Abstieg einer Familie, von der eine private Psychiatrie in den Grenzbezirken Tokyos geleitet wird, nachzeichnetdem Japanologen E. Klopfenstein zufolge ein Werk, das "in seiner panoramaartigen Überschau tatsächlich epochemachend" ist (S. 980, [28] [44], wodurch sich die Schwelle zum Aufsuchen psychiatrischer Hilfe erhöhen kann [45].…”