Complex Trauma and Suicide: An Integrative Interpersonal Approach

Abstract

Complex trauma is a term used to describe traumatic experiences that are chronic, repetitive, and invasive (e.g., domestic violence, captivity, torture). Complex trauma is associated with more pernicious psychosocial outcomes than other forms of traumatic experience (e.g., natural disasters, isolated assaults). Perhaps the most serious of these outcomes include thoughts about, attempts at, and completion of suicide. Theorists have long considered suicide to be an essentially interpersonal act, with fundamentally interpersonal causes and consequences. Similarly, what makes complex trauma complex is the interpersonal nature of it, the layering of perpetrations by other people, and interpersonal meanings made in the aftermath of these perpetrations. Although there are numerous parallels in the literatures on complex trauma and suicide with respect to interpersonal factors, these parallels have not yet been made explicit or articulated within an integrative interpersonal framework. In this chapter we will bridge this gap by defining and overviewing the research on complex trauma, discussing interpersonal approaches to understanding suicide, and providing an integration of the complex trauma and suicide literatures within an integrative interpersonal framework. Based on this integration, we will also highlight directions for future research and potential implications for clinical intervention.