Daily monitoring of the wish to live and the wish to die with suicidal inpatients

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference paperChapterpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the dynamic balance between the wish to live and wish to die has promise as a unique predictor of suicide risk and resilience. In this chapter we present evidence of this interplay in three large samples (non-clinical; emergency care patients; psychiatric inpatients) at different levels of suicide risk tested across time. There is now growing and compelling evidence that the longstanding practice of conceptualizing and monitoring suicidal desire only as the strength of the wish to die, without regard to also enquiring about a potentially competing wish to live, is neither theoretically sound nor clinically aligned with the experience of at-risk individuals or suicidal patients. The relative strength of the wish to live and the wish to die is variable and fluid, and changes in this relative balance are associated with different trajectories of risk and resilience.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAlternatives to Suicide
Subtitle of host publication Beyond Risk and Toward a Life Worth Living
EditorsAndrew C. Page, Werner G.K. Stritzke
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherElsevier
Chapter5
Pages89-110
Number of pages22
ISBN (Electronic)9780128142981
ISBN (Print)9780128142974
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Jan 2020

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