Why people engage in parasuicide: a cross-cultural study of intentions

Information obtained at interview from 1,646 parasuicide patients in 14 regions in 13 European countries participating in the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour was used to study self-reported intentions involved in parasuicide. Comparisons were made across cultures, genders, and age groups. Although some statistically significant differences were found, the effect sizes were very small. The main finding from this study is thus that parasuicide patients in different countries tend to indicate that similar types of intentions are involved in their acts of parasuicide, and that the intentions do not vary greatly with gender or age. The hypothesis that rates of suicide and parasuicide vary between regions with the frequency with which suicidal intention is indicated by the patients was also tested, but was supported only for women and in relation to national suicide rates. The findings from this study are likely to be generalizable to other settings and have implications for clinical practice.     

Adolescent suicidal ideation

Adolescent suicidal ideation and its relationship to other variables was tapped by a self-report questionnaire administered to 88 high school seniors. Eighteen percent responded positively to the statement "sometimes I feel suicidal." Those who reported suicidal ideation were found to differ from those who did not on a number of variables, including family relationships (quality of relationship with mother, intimacy with parents, and closeness to siblings), family history of depression (maternal depression), peer relations (quality of peer relationships, popularity, and number of friends), emotional well-being (happiness, anger, and depression), drug use (cigarettes, marijuana, and cocaine), and grade point average. Stepwise regression indicated that happiness explained 46% of the variance in suicidal ideation, and number of friends, anger, and marijuana use explained an additional 20%, for a total of 66% of the variance. While 34% of the variance remained unexplained, it is suggested that the questions used to measure these four variables be included in global screenings to identify adolescents at risk for suicidal ideation.     

A 32-society investigation of the influence of perceived economic inequality on social class stereotyping

There is a growing body of work suggesting that social class stereotypes are amplified when people perceive higher levels of economic inequality—that is, the wealthy are perceived as more competent and assertive and the poor as more incompetent and unassertive. The present study tested this prediction in 32 societies and also examines the role of wealth-based categorization in explaining this relationship. We found that people who perceived higher economic inequality were indeed more likely to consider wealth as a meaningful basis for categorization. Unexpectedly, however, higher levels of perceived inequality were associated with perceiving the wealthy as less competent and assertive and the poor as more competent and assertive. Unpacking this further, exploratory analyses showed that the observed tendency to stereotype the wealthy negatively only emerged in societies with lower social mobility and democracy and higher corruption. This points to the importance of understanding how socio-structural features that co-occur with economic inequality may shape perceptions of the wealthy and the poor.     

Effects of task-relevant incentives on the electrophysiological correlates of error processing in major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with action-monitoring dysfunction—particularly, disrupted error processing. Whether such dysregulation is further modulated by task incentives is largely unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate possible dysfunctions in error processing in MDD as a function of varying task incentives and clinical profile. To this end, we recorded the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) in 18 MDD participants and 18 healthy controls during a Stroop task that intermixed no-incentive and reward trials. Relative to controls, MDD participants showed (1) larger ERN irrespective of task incentives, and (2) reduced Pe during reward (but not no-incentive) trials. Moreover, among MDD participants, Pe amplitudes were negatively correlated with depression severity and clinical symptoms. The present findings highlight distinct effects of task incentives on electrophysiological components of error processing and are interpreted within current theories of action monitoring and incentive processing in depression.     

Argumentation in Suboptimal Settings

Argumentation - When parties attempt to persuade their opponents of the tenability of a certain standpoint using reasons, they will often find that the circumstances of the dialogue hinder their...     

The WHO/START Study: Promoting Suicide Prevention for a Diverse Range of Cultural Contexts

The WHO/Start Study is introduced and described in its four main components. The study originated as a response to growing concerns about trends of suicide, the prevalence of which in the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization is the highest among the six regions of the WHO. So far, nineteen centers have joined the study. This ambitious project is expected to provide important transcultural perspectives on both fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviors, together with increased awareness for these phenomena and the growth of culture‐sensitive prevention programs.     

Perspectivity,Intersubjectivity, Normativity: On Malpas’s Place and Experience

ABSTRACT

The publication of the revised edition of Jeff Malpas’s Place and Experience in 2018 gives the opportunity to reconsider this book (originally published in 1999) and the debates that it originally sparked. In this article, I focus on Malpas’s characterization of space as subjective, allocentric, and objective and I approach them in conjunction with other notions and considerations that, I suggest, are useful to expand and complement Malpas’s central theses. I approach the concept of subjective space in conjunction with the notion of coenaesthesis and with Heidegger’s notion of mineness (Jemeinigkeit); the concept of allocentric space by addressing Malpas’s critique of Nagel’s notion of detachment; and the concept of objective space through a discussion of the issue of perspective in light of Merleau-Ponty’s critique of Leibniz’s notion of ‘géométral’ (geometrized projection). These analyses pave the way for a discussion of some possible normative implications of the conception of place and subjectivity that emerges from Malpas’s Place and Experience against the background of Heidegger’s thought, and particularly in relation to Heidegger’s notion of dwelling (Wohnen).     

Contemporary Definitions of Suicidal Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

To address the lack of comparability around the world, we conducted a systematic review of existing definitions of suicide and suicidal behaviors. In the literature, four key features appear to cover the vast majority of concepts underpinning definitions: agency, knowledge of a potential fatal outcome, intent, and outcome. Intent and outcome appear to be the most consensual features of definitions of suicide, albeit revealing interesting conceptual variations. The four key features could be used to devise a research tool able to explore the meanings of suicide across different countries and different cultures.