Capacity for Suicide: Linking Painful & Provocative Experiences to Increases in Suicidal Capability (2009)

Undergraduates: Elenda Hessel, none none none

Faculty Advisor: Mitchell Prinstein
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (Joiner, 2005), posits that in order to commit suicide individuals not only need the desire to die, but also the capability to commit lethal self-injury. This capability is thought to be acquired through the experience of painful and provocative events that produce habituation to pain and fear as a result of the opponent processes. The purpose of the present study was to test the capability component of this theory. It was hypothesized that habituation due to the opponent processes would provide full mediation for the association between painful and provocative events and acquired capability for suicide. Participants were 73 university students who completed self-report measures and participated in a laboratory protocol. Psychophysiological and self-report measures were utilized to index opponent processes, painful and provocative events, and acquired capability to commit suicide. Results confirmed that painful and provocative events are significantly associated with acquired suicidal capability, and that increased pain tolerance is significantly associated with both of these constructs. Furthermore, results indicated that the opponent processes do partially mediate the association between painful and provocative events and acquired suicidal capability. Future research should focus on identifying other factors that may account for this association.