Triggers of Suicidal Ideation: Multidisciplinary Approach

Dear Colleagues,

The WHO (World Health Organization) considers suicide "a major public health problem" and a "global imperative", emphasizing that prevention is the highest priority. A mental health action plan was proposed to reduce the number of suicides by 10%. According to WHO figures, suicide is estimated to cause 800,000 deaths yearly. There are three times more suicides in men than in women; however, suicide attempts in women are three times higher than in men.

There are multiple risk factors related to suicidal behavior: individual (mental illness, gender, occupation, previous suicide attempts, addictions, physical illness, etc.), family (child abuse, abuse among family members, family history, etc.), and community (known cases of suicide in close contacts, news about suicide, access to lethal objects, etc.). These risk factors have been extensively studied and described in numerous research papers, but further investigation is needed.

When it comes to tackling this issue, prevention is key. Current theories have established how the interaction of two interpersonal aspects—perceived burden, and frustrated belongingness—can help predict suicidal behaviors. Perceived responsibility is the false perception of uselessness that the individual has about himself and the conception that he is a burden to those around him. Frustrated belonging is when the need to belong to a group is not satisfied. On the other hand, strong family and social environments with well-formed emotional ties reduce false perceptions of being burdensome and create a feeling of belonging to the group, which could act as a protective factor against self-destructive behaviors.

Additionally, self-injurious and self-destructive behaviors, as well as exposure to abuse and violence (such as intimate partner abuse or rape) that may cause trauma, increase the likelihood of suicide attempts. In the case of self-injury, people who report suffering little or no pain during self-injury have a higher risk of suicide. There is also an important field of research related to self-injury, from which we still have much to learn.

This Special Issue welcomes field work and reviews of research studies focused on suicide, particularly the triggers for suicidal ideation, to understand the risk factors, contribute to the control of suicide attempts, and improve mental and emotional health. Due to its multidisciplinary nature, research on health promotion, educational guidelines for prevention, management of behavioral factors or unhealthy lifestyles, social, cultural, and philosophical approaches to suicidal behavior, risk factors, intervention, and treatment, and all work that helps to clarify suicidal behavior and suicidal ideation may also be presented. This will improve our understanding of this behavior and help to prevent it in the future.

Potential topics for this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

• Suicidal ideation;
• Suicide attempt;
• Assisted suicide;
• Autolysis;
• Public health;
• Prevention;
• Disease prevention;
• Euthanasia;
• Healthy lifestyles;
• Health promotion.

Dr. Cristina Lázaro-Pérez
Prof. Dr. José Gómez Galán
Prof. Dr. Jose Ángel Martínez-López
Guest Editors

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• clinical psychology
• mental illness
• psychiatry
• suicidal ideation
• attempted suicide
• autolysis
• assisted suicide
• parasuicide
• health education
• public health
• prevention
• disease prevention
• euthanasia
• healthy lifestyles
• health promotion