Popis: |
Suicide is a leading cause of death. Rich descriptions of suicidal phenomena are critical to advancing understanding. Research on goal-directed behavior suggests that actions require both a motivation and a cognitive representation of the behavior. Therefore, we measured motivational (e.g., desire or urge) and intentional (e.g., intent) suicidal states as well as suicidal thought content (e.g., verbal thoughts, imagery and planning) using momentary (9,786 responses) and daily (2,335 responses) assessment over 42 days in 105 suicidal adults. Results revealed, first that suicidal imagery was more common than verbal suicidal thoughts, and suicide plans co-occurred with imagery approximately 70% of the time. Second, high levels of suicidal desire, urge and intent were frequently accompanied by active suicidal thought content, the reverse was not true: active thought content was frequently present during low or absent motivational/intentional states. These results paint a nuanced and complex picture regarding the phenomenology of suicidal thoughts. |