Abstract
Background
Stressful life events are a common antecedent of suicidal thoughts. However, not all stressful events lead to increased suicidal thinking, even among those who frequently have suicidal thoughts. In this study, we examined whether the ways that individuals regulate their emotions moderates the association between stressful events and suicidal thinking. Building on prior research we hypothesized that cognitive reappraisal is associated with a weaker relationship between stress and same-day suicidal thoughts, and that expressive suppression is associated with a stronger relationship between stress and suicidal thoughts.
Method
We used a daily diary method to collect self-reports of stressful events and suicidal thoughts over a 28-day period. At baseline, we assessed participants’ tendency to use cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression.
Results
Consistent with our first hypothesis, we found that at higher levels of reappraisal, there was a weaker relationship between stress and suicidal thoughts. Contrary to our second hypothesis, we found that at higher levels of expressive suppression there was also a weaker relationship between stress and suicidal thoughts.
Conclusions
In contrast to laboratory-based findings suggesting that expressive suppression has negative psychological effects, these preliminary daily diary results suggest that expressive suppression could be an effective short-term emotion regulation strategy among individuals considering suicide.
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Funding
This study was supported by Harvard University Foundation of Human Behavior (Grant Title: A Real-Time Evaluation of Imminent Suicide Risk).
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Peter J. Franz, Evan M. Kleiman, Matthew K. Nock declare that they have no conflict of interest related to the study described.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Harvard University-Area Institutional Review Board (IRB#15-1975).
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Franz, P.J., Kleiman, E.M. & Nock, M.K. Reappraisal and Suppression Each Moderate the Association Between Stress and Suicidal Ideation: Preliminary Evidence From a Daily Diary Study. Cogn Ther Res 45, 1120–1127 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-021-10214-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-021-10214-8