Personality, Suicidal Ideation, and Reasons for Living among Older Adults
01 Mar 2012-Journals of Gerontology Series B-psychological Sciences and Social Sciences (Oxford University Press)-Vol. 67, Iss: 2, pp 159-166
TL;DR: The findings highlight the complexity of risk and protective factors for suicide and suggest that a thorough assessment of suicidal potential among older adults should include attention to their underlying personality traits.
Abstract: Objectives. This study examined associations between diverse types of personality disorder (PD) features, personality traits, suicidal ideation, and protective factors against suicide among community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: Participants (N = 109, M age = 71.4 years, 61% female) completed the Coolidge Axis II Inventory, NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale, and Reasons for Living Inventory. RESULTS: PD features had positive correlations with suicidal ideation and mixed relationships with aspects of reasons for living. Personality traits had negative correlations with suicidal ideation, with the exception of neuroticism, which had a positive relationship, and were mostly unrelated to reasons for living. In regression analyses, borderline and histrionic were the only PD features that contributed significant variance in suicidal ideation, whereas neuroticism was the only personality trait that contributed significant variance in suicidal ideation. No individual PD features or personality traits contributed significant variance in reasons for living. Discussion. The findings highlight the complexity of risk and protective factors for suicide and suggest that a thorough assessment of suicidal potential among older adults should include attention to their underlying personality traits. Language: en
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TL;DR: It is indicated thatclassic psychedelics may hold promise in the prevention of suicide, supporting the view that classic psychedelics’ most highly restricted legal status should be reconsidered to facilitate scientific study, and suggesting that more extensive clinical research with classic psychedelic is warranted.
Abstract: Mental health problems are endemic across the globe, and suicide, a strong corollary of poor mental health, is a leading cause of death. Classic psychedelic use may occasion lasting improvements in...
256 citations
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...Some studies show that openness may protect against suicide in older adults, though findings are mixed (Segal et al., 2012)....
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TL;DR: Study participants experienced enhanced psychological well-being and reduced symptoms of depression and suicide ideation over the course of IPT adapted for older adults at risk for suicide.
Abstract: Objective To pilot a psychological intervention adapted for older adults at risk for suicide. Design A focused, uncontrolled, pre-to-post-treatment psychotherapy trial. All eligible participants were offered the study intervention. Setting Outpatient mental health care provided in the psychiatry department of an academic medical center in a mid-sized Canadian city. Participants Seventeen English-speaking adults 60 years or older, at risk for suicide by virtue of current suicide ideation, death ideation, and/or recent self-injury. Intervention A 16-session course of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) adapted for older adults at risk for suicide who were receiving medication and/or other standard psychiatric treatment for underlying mood disorders. Measurements Participants completed a demographics form, screens for cognitive impairment and alcohol misuse, a semi-structured diagnostic interview, and measures of primary (suicide ideation and death ideation) and secondary study outcomes (depressive symptom severity, social adjustment and support, psychological well-being), and psychotherapy process measures. Results Participants experienced significant reductions in suicide ideation, death ideation, and depressive symptom severity, and significant improvement in perceived meaning in life, social adjustment, perceived social support, and other psychological well-being variables. Conclusions Study participants experienced enhanced psychological well-being and reduced symptoms of depression and suicide ideation over the course of IPT adapted for older adults at risk for suicide. Larger, controlled trials are needed to further evaluate the impact of this novel intervention and to test methods for translating and integrating focused interventions into standard clinical care with at-risk older adults.
83 citations
TL;DR: An update of a life span perspective on borderline personality disorder (BPD) is provided, and a clinical staging model for BPD holds promise to account for the fluctuating expression of BPD.
Abstract: Purpose of review To provide an update of a life span perspective on borderline personality disorder (BPD). We address the life span course of BPD, and discuss possible implications for assessment, treatment, and research. Recent findings BPD first manifests itself in adolescence and can be distinguished reliably from normal adolescent development. The course of BPD from adolescence to late life is characterized by a symptomatic switch from affective dysregulation, impulsivity, and suicidality to maladaptive interpersonal functioning and enduring functional impairments, with subsequent remission and relapse. Dimensional models of BPD appear more age neutral and more useful across the entire life span. There is a need for age-specific interventions across the life span. Summary BPD symptoms and impairments tend to wax and wane from adolescence up to old age, and presentation depends on contextual factors. Our understanding of the onset and early course of BPD is growing, but knowledge of BPD in late life is limited. Although the categorical criteria of DSM allow for reliable diagnosis of BPD in adolescence, dimensional models appear both more age neutral, and useful up to late life. To account for the fluctuating expression of BPD, and to guide development and selection of treatment across the life span, a clinical staging model for BPD holds promise.
78 citations
TL;DR: Findings add to a growing body of literature suggesting merit in investigating positive psychological factors together with negative factors when assessing suicide risk and planning psychological services for older adults.
Abstract: Objectives: To investigate the roles of reasons for living (RFL) and meaning in life (MIL) in potentially promoting mental health and well-being and protecting against suicide ideation among community-residing older adults and to investigate the psychometric properties of the Reasons for Living Scale-Older Adult version (RFL-OA).Method: Of 173 older adults initially recruited into a longitudinal study on late-life suicide ideation, 109 completed the RFL-OA and measures of cognitive and physical functioning and positive and negative psychological factors at a two-year follow-up assessment. We tested a model in which RFL and MIL protect against suicide ideation, controlling for demographic and clinical factors. We also assessed the psychometric properties of the RFL-OA in community-residing older adults, investigating its internal consistency and its convergent (MIL, perceived social support, and life satisfaction), divergent (loneliness, depressive symptom severity, and suicide ideation), and discriminant ...
77 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship of meaning in life with emotional distress, suicidal ideation, and life functioning in a sample of 273 active duty Security Forces personnel assigned to two US Air Force bases.
Abstract: The present study examined the relationship of meaning in life with emotional distress, suicidal ideation, and life functioning in a sample of 273 active duty Security Forces personnel assigned to two US Air Force bases. Results of regression analyses indicated that stronger meaning in life was significantly associated with less severe emotional distress (p < 0.001, ΔR 2 = 0.047) and suicidal ideation (p = 0.043, ΔR 2 = 0.017), and better functioning at work and in intimate relationships, nonfamily relationships, and recreational activities (p < 0.001, ΔR 2 = 0.073). Meaning in life showed stronger associations with outcomes relative to other predictors and covariates and explained the relationship between belonging and life functioning. Findings suggest that meaning in life is associated with less emotional distress and suicide risk, and greater success and performance across multiple domains in life among military personnel.
54 citations
References
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11 Jun 2013
113,134 citations
TL;DR: The five-factor model has recently received wide attention as a comprehensive model of personality traits as mentioned in this paper, and the claim that these five factors represent basic dimensions of personality is based on four lines of reasoning and evidence: longitudinal and cross-observer studies demonstrate that all five factors are enduring dispositions that are manifest in patterns of behavior.
2,836 citations
TL;DR: The development of an instrument to measure a range of beliefs potentially important as reasons for not committing suicide and the results indicated that the RFL differentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal individuals in both samples are described.
Abstract: University of Washington Catholic University of AmericaStevan Lars Nielsen and John A. ChilesUniversity of WashingtonThe studies presented here describe the development of an instrument to measurea range of beliefs potentially important as reasons for not committing suicide.Sixty-five individuals generated 72 distinct reasons; these were reduced to 48 byfactor analyses performed on two additional samples, and the items were arrangedinto the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL), which requires a rating of howimportant each reason would be for living if suicide was contemplated. In ad-dition, factor analyses indicated six primary reasons for living: Survival and Cop-ing Beliefs, Responsibility to Family, Child-Related Concerns, Fear of Suicide,Fear of Social Disapproval, and Moral Objections. The RFL was then given totwo additional samples, 197 Seattle shoppers and 175 psychiatric inpatients. Bothsamples were divided into several suicidal (ideators and parasuicides) and non-suicidal groups. Separate multivariate analyses of variance indicated that the RFLdifferentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal individuals in both samples. In the shop-ping-center sample, the Fear of Suicide scale further differentiated between pre-vious ideators and previous parasuicides. In the clinical sample, the Child-RelatedConcerns scales differentiated between current suicide ideators and current para-suicides. In both samples, the Survival and Coping, the Responsibility to Family,and the Child-Related Concerns scales were most useful in differentiating thegroups. Results were maintained when the effect of recent stress was held constant.The frequency of suicidal behavior sug- point in their lifetime; between 53% and 67%gests that it is a phenomenon that cannot be report seriously considering it.ignored. Over 25,000 individuals a year kill The majority of research in the field ofthemselves in the United States (U.S. Vital suicidology, to date, has been directed atStatistics, 1973, 1975), and it is estimated identifying characteristics of suicidal personsthat two to eight times this number, or from to enhance prediction of suicidal behavior50,000 to 200,000 persons a year parasuicide (Beck, Resnick, & Lettieri, 1974; Kreitman,(i.e., intentionally self-injure, behavior usu- 1977;Neuringer, 1974). With few exceptionsally labeled in the U.S. as attempted suicide; (e.g., Goodstein, 1982) almost all of this workBerman, 1975). Linehan and colleagues (Li- has focused on identifying maladaptive at-nehan & Laffaw, in press; Linehan & Nielsen, tributes of suicidal persons. Little attention1981; Linehan, Note 1) found that from 10% has been given the question of whether sui-to 16% of an adult, general population in cidal persons lack important adaptive char-Seattle report attempting suicide at some acteristics present among nonsuicidal indi-viduals, and, if so, what these characteristicsThis research was supported by National Institute might be.Grant MH34486. Focusing on adaptive, life-maintaining
901 citations
"Personality, Suicidal Ideation, and..." refers background in this paper
...Alpha coefficients in the present sample are provided in Table 1. is a 48-item self-report measure that assesses a range of beliefs thought to be important in differentiating suicidal from non-suicidal individuals (Linehan et al., 1983 Moral Objections....
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TL;DR: This article found that affective disorder is a powerful independent risk factor for suicide in older adults and that social ties and their disruption are significantly and independently associated with risk for suicide, relationships between which may be moderated by a rigid, anxious, and obsessional personality style.
635 citations