Citation

Paashaus L, Forkmann T, Glaesmer H, Juckel G, Rath D, Schönfelder A, Teismann T. Clin. Psychol. Psychother. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/cpp.2438

PMID

32100399

Abstract

The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide posits that elevated pain tolerance is necessary to engage in suicidal behavior. It is assumed that suicidal intent only leads to lethal (or near lethal) suicide attempts when an individual has the capability to persist the pain involved in dying. The aim of this study was to assess whether objective pain persistence moderates the association between suicide intent and lethality of a recent suicide attempt. 97 inpatients, who were hospitalized due to a recent suicide attempt, were interviewed regarding lifetime suicide attempts as well as their most recent suicide attempt: method of attempt, intention to die, medical risk of death, probability of an intervention and physical condition following the attempt were inquired. Pain persistence was examined using a pressure algometer. Contrary to the expectation, pain persistence did not moderate the association between suicide intent and lethality of a recent suicide attempt, i.e. medical risk of death, probability of an intervention or physical condition following the attempt. Future studies are needed, to examine method specific pain persistence for suicidal behavior in a longitudinal study design.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

capability for suicide; ideation-to-action; lethality; pain persistence; suicide attempt; suicide intent