The current study tested a component of the social disconnection model (Hewitt, Flett, Sherry, & Caelian, 2006) by determining whether the interpersonal components of perfectionism and suicide outcomes in youth are mediated by experiences of being bullied, a marker of social disconnection. The perfectionism trait of socially prescribed perfectionism and the perfectionistic self-presentation facets, suicide outcomes, and experiences of being bullied were measured in a heterogeneous sample of 152 psychiatric outpatient youth, aged 8 to 20 (mean = 12.87, SD = 2.97; 83 males, 69 females). The current study found evidence in support of the social disconnection model whereby the perfectionistic self-presentation facet, nondisplay of imperfection, and suicide outcomes were mediated by experiences of being bullied. Implications of self presentational components of perfectionism and social disconnection in suicide outcomes for youth are discussed, in terms of both their conceptual and clinical significance. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The Van Staden’s Bridge has claimed 67 lives since its construction on 11 November 1971. A team of police officials, trained as negotiators who deal with suicide and hostage negotiation, are involved with the task of convincing suicidal persons who turn to the bridge to take their own lives, not to resort to suicide. They are responsible for persuading at least three people per week to reconisider suicide at this notorious bridge. The goal of this study was to explore and describe the experiences and coping resources of the SAPS suicide negotiation staff at the Van Staden’s Bridge, Thornhill, Port Elizabeth. A mixed methods study combining both the quantitative and qualitative approaches was implemented. An exploratory-descriptive design was used, because the topic is still a relatively under-researched area in South Africa. Two data collection measures, that is, the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) and semi-structured interviewing were employed. The researcher conducted a pilot study to enhance the trustworthiness of the study. Non-probability, purposive sampling was employed to obtain research participants from the research population (suicide negotiation team), consisting of 12 members. Eight members participated voluntary in the quantitative data collection and of these a total of five participated in the qualitative research interviews. Six themes emerged from the results of the in-depth, semi-structured interviews: (1) experiences of SAPS suicide negotiators, (2) aspects that hinder the negotiation process, (3) characteristics of a negotiator, (4) important aspects of the negotiation process, (5) coping mechanisms of SAPS negotiators and (6) recommendations for rendering support to SAPS negotiators. The results from the CRI suggested that the participants have average coping resources with the cognitive domain being the lowest and both the social and physical domains being the highest. The limitations and the value of the study were outlined and finally, recommendations for future research were made.

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Norepinephrine (NE) is one of three catecholamine neurotransmitters in the brain and has been studied extensively in relation to the biology of suicide as well as psychiatric disorders that significantly increase the risk of suicide. NE became a candidate for the pathology of depression in the 1950s, but not because of a discovery of altered concentrations of NE in depressed patients or suicide victims. Instead, NE was one of the neurotransmitters along with dopamine and serotonin that was directly affected by newly discovered antidepressant drugs. Since that time, NE has been one of the most studied neurotransmitters with regard to depression biology and suicide, second only to serotonin. However, interest in the role of NE in suicide and depression has dwindled considerably over the past 10 years. In fact, interest in monoamines appears to be waning overall, possibly driven by a push by the National Institutes of Health for paradigm shifts in understanding psychiatric disease biology. The move away from interest in the monoamines is also being driven by high-throughput technologies such as microarrays, which divert investigators from traditional disease candidates to novel proteins and pathways. Despite the current trends, evidence that points to dysfunction in the central noradrenergic system in depression and suicide is very strong and it remains quite possible that deficits in NE signaling may lie at the very root of psychiatric disorders that contribute to suicide. This chapter reviews the neurobiology and functional output of the brain noradrenergic system in relation to the potential involvement of NE in depression and suicide.

No description available.

After attempting suicide and speaking with God, a disaster of a woman sets out to start her own religion, all while moving back in with her parents.

The purpose of this study is to provide a descriptive evaluation of Jordan School District's riskline as a step toward assessing the effectiveness of education - sponsored suicide risklines. The riskline received over 1000 calls from mid 1988 to mid 1989 for a variety o f problem areas. Demographics and risk assessment f or the c alls relating to suicide are presented and evaluated . The findings indicate that risk assessment is independent of all variables considered except the age of the counselor and the grade o f the caller . The number of calls is independent of every variable considered except the grade level of the caller, the sex of t he caller, and the person in whose behalf the caller is calling. Approximately 59% of the calls with the grade recorded came from people beyond high school age, 75% of the calls came from females, and 55% of the calls came from people stating that they were calling for someone other than themselves. Risk assessment was found to be related to the age of the counselor and the grade of the caller with the call s assessed as "high risk" coming from those beyond high school age and assessed by older counselors. The number of calls was found to be related to the grade and sex of the caller, as well as the person in whose behalf the caller was calling. Higher numbers of calls came from those beyond high school age, from females, and from people stating that t hey were calling in behalf of someone other than themselves.

No description available.

No description available.

Suicide is a significant public health concern in the U.S., with over 40,000 suicides reported in 2014. For veterans, risk for suicide is even greater; for instance, of the over 40,000 suicides in 2014, 18% were comprised of veterans, although veterans account for only 8% of the U.S. population. Heightened suicide risk in veterans may be due to increased exposure to trauma (e.g., military sexual trauma, combat) and its negative cognitive-emotional sequelae (i.e., shame, guilt, PTSD). However, not all veterans who experience these negative symptoms manifest suicide risk, potentially due to the presence of protective factors. One such factor, self-compassion, involves responding to oneself in a caring and helpful manner in times of distress and may buffer against suicide risk by allowing the individual to look past global negative self-evaluations (i.e., shame), breaking the ruminative cycle over past actions (i.e., guilt), and helping to alleviate PTSD symptoms. This premise, however, has not been tested. We hypothesized that shame/guilt and PTSD symptoms (in two separate models) would mediate the relation between self-compassion and suicide risk, such that higher levels of self-compassion will be associated with lower levels of shame/guilt and, in turn, to decreased PTSD symptoms and reduced suicide risk. Participants (N=317; 65.6% male (n=208); 83.6% Caucasian (n=265), Mean Age=47.54, SD=16.34) were community-dwelling veterans who self-identified as having experienced a trauma, and completed the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, Differential Emotions Scale-IV, PTSD Checklist-Military Version, and the Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised. Bivariate correlations and serial mediation analyses were conducted covarying age, sex, ethnicity, VHA usage, service era, and depressive symptoms. Supporting hypotheses, in serial mediation analyses (10000 bootstrapped samples), the direct effect of self-compassion on suicide risk was reduced, but remained significant, when shame and PTSD symptoms (Model 1; c'=-.846, p=.002, CI=-1.39 to -.306) and guilt and PTSD symptoms (Model 2; c'=-.588, p=.043, CI=-1.15 to -.020), were added as mediators, indicating mediation. Further, there were significant total and specific indirect effects in both models. Our results suggest that the relation between self-compassion and suicide risk may be due, in part, to beneficial changes in cognitive-emotional factors and subsequent decreased severity of PTSD symptoms. Engaging in self-kindness and mindfulness may provide a more-balanced, rather than judgmental and overly-responsible, view of one’s self, thereby reducing risk for psychopathology and suicide. Our findings may have clinical implications. Encouraging the development of self-compassion (e.g., Mindful Self-Compassion, Compassion-Focused Therapy) and addressing shame, guilt, and PTSD symptoms (e.g., Cognitive Processing Therapy, Adaptive Disclosure), may reduce suicide risk in the veteran population.