Suicidal Narrative

Abstract

According to the narrative crisis model, as people with trait vulnerability to suicidal behavior experience stressful life events, they develop a perception of their life story as moving toward “the dead end,” which gives rise to the acute suicide crisis syndrome. This chapter details the suicidal narrative component of the narrative crisis theory, which organizes the common themes of suicidal narrative into seven phases that follow a coherent life story of progressive failure and alienation until the future becomes impossible: Setting up unrealistic life goals, entitlement to happiness, humiliating personal or social defeat, failure to redirect to more realistic goals, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and perception of no future. A person’s perception of his or her life in terms of coherent suicidal narrative is associated with imminent suicide risk. This chapter contains an interview algorithm to probe the suicidal narrative, three representative case examples, and a test case.