A predictive approach to Freud's formulations regarding suicide

This study of suicide notes involved the deduction of 25 protocol sentences that reflected important specific aspects of Freud's formulations regarding suicide. Independent judges noted the incidence of contents corresponding to the protocol sentences in 33 genuine and 33 simulated notes. Comparisons between genuine and simulated notes revealed that the protocol sentences discriminated significantly as a set in favor of the genuine notes. Individual statements found significantly more frequently in genuine notes indicated loss and/or rejection, preoccupation with a lost person, ambivalence toward a lost person, identification with a lost person, communicating feelings of anger toward oneself but appearing to be angry toward someone else, turning back upon oneself murderous wishes or impulses, and seeing the act as a fulfillment of self-punishment. A frequency count of the sentences in the notes indicated that these statements occurred quite frequently (i.e., at least one-third of the time) in the genuine notes. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Genuine versus Simulated Suicide Notes: An Issue Revisited Through Discourse Analysis

ABSTRACT: Classic studies of written suicide notes have sought to develop criteria for discriminating genuine from simulated notes. In this article, the authors provide a method of discourse analysis and apply this method to the discrimination of genuine from simulated notes used in previous studies. Reports of significant differences among language measures as well as the results of a multiple discriminant analysis using the discourse analysis are reported. In addition, a language profile of the suicidal individual is given along with suggestions for research and clinical use of the method.     

An empirical investigation of Shneidman's formulations regarding suicide: age and sex

This study of suicide notes, concerning the demographic variables of age and sex, involved the deduction of 50 classifications (protocol sentences) that reflected important aspects of Shneidman's formulations with regard to suicide. Independent judges noted the incidence of contents corresponding to the protocol sentences in the notes left by 60 suicides-20 notes written by individuals (females and males) in each of the three categories of Young, Middle, and Late Adulthood. Age (notably in regard to Young Adults), but not sex, was found to be a critical discriminating variable on a number of specific classifications and clusters of these classifications (Perturbation, Relations, Cognitions Regarding Self, and Long-Term Instability), although considerable similarities were also noted across the adult life span. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Reading between the lies: identifying concealed and falsified emotions in universal facial expressions

The widespread supposition that aspects of facial communication are uncontrollable and can betray a deceiver's true emotion has received little empirical attention. We examined the presence of inconsistent emotional expressions and "microexpressions" (1/25-1/5 of a second) in genuine and deceptive facial expressions. Participants viewed disgusting, sad, frightening, happy, and neutral images, responding to each with a genuine or deceptive (simulated, neutralized, or masked) expression. Each 1/30-s frame (104,550 frames in 697 expressions) was analyzed for the presence and duration of universal expressions, microexpressions, and blink rate. Relative to genuine emotions, masked emotions were associated with more inconsistent expressions and an elevated blink rate; neutralized emotions showed a decreased blink rate. Negative emotions were more difficult to falsify than happiness. Although untrained observers performed only slightly above chance at detecting deception, inconsistent emotional leakage occurred in 100% of participants at least once and lasted longer than the current definition of a microexpression suggests. Microexpressions were exhibited by 21.95% of participants in 2% of all expressions, and in the upper or lower face only.     

Last Words: Analysis of Suicide Notes from an RECBT Perspective: An Exploratory Study

A sample of 86 suicide notes was analyzed to identify the common cognitive and emotional themes contained in the text from a rational-emotive and cognitive behavior therapy (RECBT) perspective. Using grounded theory and statistical analysis to examine the data, this study found that the most frequent emotional categories to be present in these suicide notes are autonomous depression, sociotropic depression, guilt, shame, hurt and anger. It was also discovered that men, more than women, are likely to write about their experience of guilt in their suicide notes at the end of a relationship, while women are more likely to express feelings of hurt. This study may enable RECBT practitioners to better understand the cognitive and emotional factors of suicide behavior, and it may encourage future research into more specific suicide prevention protocols.     

A test of the validity of the IS PATH WARM warning signs for suicide

The 10 warning signs for suicide, encapsulated in the mnemonic IS PATH WARM, did not differentiate between genuine suicide notes and those written by people simulating a suicidal crisis or between notes written by completed suicides and those written by attempted suicides.     

Reasons for suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury in women with borderline personality disorder

Self-reported reasons for suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury were examined using the Parasuicide History Interview within a sample of chronically suicidal women meeting criteria for borderline personality disorder (N = 75). Overall, reasons given for suicide attempts differed from reasons for nonsuicidal self-injury. Nonsuicidal acts were more often reported as intended to express anger, punish oneself, generate normal feelings, and distract oneself, whereas suicide attempts were more often reported as intended to make others better off. Almost all participants reported that both types of parasuicide were intended to relieve negative emotions. It is likely that suicidal and nonsuicidal parasuicide have multiple intents and functions.     

Are Young Adults' Suicides Psychologically Different from Those of Other Adults? (The Shneidman Lecture)

ABSTRACT: This Shneidman Lecture addresses the question: Are young adults' suicides psychologically different from those of other adults? Eight clusters (or patterns) as possible predictors of suicide notes and, by implication, suicide are discussed to address this question. The eight clusters are as follows: unbearable psychological pain, interpersonal relations, rejection-aggression, inability to adjust, indirect expressions, identification-egression, ego, and cognitive constriction. Comparisons between young adults (aged 18–25) and other adults indicate that young adults' suicides do differ psychologically in a number of patterns, but that considerable commonalities exist across the adult life span. The presentation emphasizes that a life span developmental perspective is essential when one is attempting to understand the suicides of young adults. A number of genuine suicide notes of young adults are presented to illustrate, from an idiographic view, what it might have been like for these individuals in the last moments of their lives.     

Structured propostions and sentence structure

It is argued that taken together, two widely held claims ((i) sentences express structured propositions whose structures are functions of the structures of sentences expressing them; and (ii) senteces have underlying structures that are the input to semantic interpretation) suggest a simple, plausible theory of propositional structure. According to this theory, the structures of propositions are the same as the structures of the syntactic inputs to semantics they are expressed by. The theory is defended against a variety of objections.I have benefitted from discussions with Michael Jubien, Michacl Liston, Paul Teller, Howard Wettstein, Mark Wilson and especially David Copp. The comments of Mark Richard and an anonymous referee for Journal of Philosophical Logic on an earlier draft resulted in a much improved paper. Various circumstances resulted in this paper appearing after King [1995], though the latter was written later and amends the present view in several ways. See notes 9, 13, 15 and 33 of King [1995].     

A last defence: the negotiation of blame within suicide notes

This paper presents a discursive analysis of 172 suicide notes left by 120 suicide victims. Instead of searching for the underlying psychological reasons for suicide in the content of notes, we argue that such notes should be viewed as acts of communication which serve to manage the blame accorded to both author and recipients of the suicide note. Consequently notes may provide evidence of socially shared beliefs as to when suicide is more or less acceptable. The analysis largely confirms this approach. It is found that matters relating to blame are referred to more frequently than any other issue (87% of notes). The precise arguments which are used to justify the actions of both self and others are then described in detail and some evidence is provided that the nature of these arguments may vary as a function of the social position of the author and also the identity of the recipient. The implications of these findings, and for a general use of a discursive approach to suicide, are then discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suicide notes of the older adult.

Although not true in all countries, older adults are the developmental age group at highest risk for death by suicide in the United States. Our knowledge of suicide in the elderly is, however, limited. The psychological characteristics for suicide cannot be attributed primarily or even solely to being old. One avenue to understanding this complicated act in the elderly is suicide notes. Despite their limitations, suicide notes contain special revelations of the human mind and there is much one can learn from them about suicide in the older adult. This paper outlines the sparse literature on the topic of suicide notes of the older adult and then presents the author's own life-span research related to the elderly. The research indicated that long-term instability was critical in understanding suicide in the older adult. However, indirect expressions (e.g., ambivalence, unconscious implications) were much less frequently observed in the notes of the elderly than other adults. The research also found that older males often wrote about painful problems in their interpersonal relations in their final letters and this pain was significant in making their final decision. Future research, specifically regarding a protocol analysis based on a review of the research on suicide in the elderly, will be discussed.     

A Comparison of Suicide Note Writers with Suicides Who Did Not Leave Notes

There is disagreement in the suicide literature on the value of suicide notes as a data source, particularly regarding the extent to which suicide decedents who write notes differ from those who do not. Using 10 years of suicide cases from Summit County, Ohio, these two groups were compared on 40 variables including sociodemographic characteristics, reported affect before death, precipitating events, physical and mental health status and care, and method of suicide. The only differences found were that note writers were more likely to have lived alone and had made prior suicide threats. These findings suggest that for research purposes, suicide cases with and without notes are essentially similar.     

Verbalized anger and accusatory "you" messages as cues for anger and antagonism among adolescents.

This study investigated the impact of communications of negative feelings between adolescents in close relationships. High school boys and girls were asked to imagine discussing a relationship problem with a personally close partner and to rate likely reactions to four kinds of statements: assertively expressed distress, assertively expressed anger, aggressively expressed distress, and aggressively expressed anger. Accusatory "you" statements were rated as more aversive and evoked stronger antagonistic response inclinations than assertive "I" statements. Statements depicting anger were rated as more aversive and evoked stronger antagonistic response inclinations than statements depicting distress. Results were similar for boys and girls. Implications of the findings and directions for further research are discussed.     

Group Psychotherapy: A Behavioral Approach

Abstract

This clinical report highlights some of the processes arising in a therapy group of persons with persistent and chronic psychiatric illnesses as they cope with the stress of their long–standing therapist’s impending retirement. Members were initially disbelieving that the therapist would leave and were also concerned about their future care, particularly in terms of medications. Gradually they were more able to experience their feelings of loss and their genuine caring for the therapist and the group, using higher level defenses and increasing their ability to tolerate strong affects. They became increasingly able to demonstrate empathy, notably in their ability to consider the therapist’s emotions. The clinical material also illustrates the therapist’s personal involvement, countertransferences and expressions of concern.     

Saying goodbye: exploring attachments as a therapist leaves a group of chronically ill persons

This clinical report highlights some of the processes arising in a therapy group of persons with persistent and chronic psychiatric illnesses as they cope with the stress of their long-standing therapist's impending retirement. Members were initially disbelieving that the therapist would leave and were also concerned about their future care, particularly in terms of medications. Gradually they were more able to experience their feelings of loss and their genuine caring for the therapist and the group, using higher level defenses and increasing their ability to tolerate strong affects. They became increasingly able to demonstrate empathy, notably in their ability to consider the therapist's emotions. The clinical material also illustrates the therapist's personal involvement, countertransferences and expressions of concern.     

Examining the narrative roles in suicide notes

The present study examines suicide notes, using a sample of suicide notes from published corpora (N = 50), combined with a sample of recent suicide notes from a suicide website (N = 50). The present study proposes a model of differentiation in completed suicides. The characteristics of the suicide notes were analysed using a content dictionary developed by Giles in 2007, and the data subjected to smallest space analysis. Four themes of suicide completer were discovered: Egoistic Victim, Anomic Hero, Altruistic Professional and Fatalistic Revenger. The implications of these findings and the potential use in therapy work with suicide survivors and those with suicidal ideation are discussed, as well as suggestions for the direction of future research.     

A thematic comparison of suicide notes drawn from Northern Ireland and the United States

Suicide is a global concern hence cross-cultural research ought to be central to national suicide prevention strategies. This study sought to investigate suicide notes drawn from Northern Ireland and the United States as these countries have broadly similar suicide rates but markedly different cultures. A theoretical-conceptual analysis of sixty suicide notes drawn from these countries, matched for age and sex, was undertaken based on a thematic model of suicide developed by Leenaars (1996) across countries. The results suggested that there were more psychological commonalities than differences. Two differences emerged which suggested that aspects of the interpersonal components may be more salient in Northern Irish rather than American suicides. It is argued that more wide-ranging cross-cultural studies are required to enhance our ability to identify and predict those most at risk from suicide.     

A thematic comparison of suicide notes drawn from Northern Ireland and the United States

Suicide is a global concern hence cross-cultural research ought to be central to national suicide prevention strategies. This study sought to investigate suicide notes drawn from Northern Ireland and the United States as these countries have broadly similar suicide rates but markedly different cultures. A theoretical-conceptual analysis of sixty suicide notes drawn from these countries, matched for age and sex, was undertaken based on a thematic model of suicide developed by Leenaars (1996) across countries. The results suggested that there were more psychological commonalities than differences. Two differences emerged which suggested that aspects of the interpersonal components may be more salient in Northern Irish rather than American suicides. It is argued that more wide-ranging cross-cultural studies are required to enhance our ability to identify and predict those most at risk from suicide.     

Valence specific laterality effects in prosody: expectancy account and the effects of morphed prosody and stimulus lead

The majority of studies have demonstrated a right hemisphere (RH) advantage for the perception of emotions. Other studies have found that the involvement of each hemisphere is valence specific, with the RH better at perceiving negative emotions and the LH better at perceiving positive emotions [Reuter-Lorenz, P., & Davidson, R.J. (1981) Differential contributions of the 2 cerebral hemispheres to the perception of happy and sad faces. Neuropsychologia, 19, 609-613]. To account for valence laterality effects in emotion perception we propose an 'expectancy' hypothesis which suggests that valence effects are obtained when the top-down expectancy to perceive an emotion outweighs the strength of bottom-up perceptual information enabling the discrimination of an emotion. A dichotic listening task was used to examine alternative explanations of valence effects in emotion perception. Emotional sentences (spoken in a happy or sad tone of voice), and morphed-happy and morphed-sad sentences (which blended a neutral version of the sentence with the pitch of the emotion sentence) were paired with neutral versions of each sentence and presented dichotically. A control condition was also used, consisting of two identical neutral sentences presented dichotically, with one channel arriving before the other by 7 ms. In support of the RH hypothesis there was a left ear advantage for the perception of sad and happy emotional sentences. However, morphed sentences showed no ear advantage, suggesting that the RH is specialised for the perception of genuine emotions and that a laterality effect may be a useful tool for the detection of fake emotion. Finally, for the control condition we obtained an interaction between the expected emotion and the effect of ear lead. Participants tended to select the ear that received the sentence first, when they expected a 'sad' sentence, but not when they expected a 'happy' sentence. The results are discussed in relation to the different theoretical explanations of valence laterality effects in emotion perception.     

Emotion-induced modulation of recognition memory decisions in a Go/NoGo task: Response bias or memory bias?

In recognition memory tests for words, items with negative emotional meaning are more often classified as “old” compared to neutral items, whether or not they are in fact old. Two accounts for this bias have been offered: One proposes that emotions disrupt retrieval and response monitoring processes (executive control account), the other proposes that emotions cause illusory feelings of remembering (memory bias account). We addressed this issue by varying the target signal in a Go/NoGo variant of a recognition memory task for negative, neutral, and positive words and faces: One group of participants was asked to respond to old items whereas the other group was asked to respond to new items. Results showed that the “Go-for-old” group showed the typical emotion-induced response bias shift for both positive and negative words, while the “Go-for-new” group showed the opposite pattern. Results were nonsignificant for faces, but went into the same direction. The findings are clearly inconsistent with the executive control account and speak for a genuine memory illusion induced by emotional arousal.