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Predicting Suicide
By Abby Goldstein on Thursday, July 24, 2008.
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Four years ago, Eric Bebergal tried to kill himself by wrapping wire around his neck and attaching it to a closet pole. His wife found him passed out on the floor. He was admitted to the emergency room at Mass General Hospital, and was released the next day. A few weeks later, Eric attempted suicide again, and this time succeeded. He was 46 years old.
Peter Bebergal wrote a touching article in the Boston Globe last weekend about his brother’s suicide. And he asks if a test being developed by Harvard researchers, the Suicide Implicit Association Test, could have revealed his brother’s desire to try to kill himself again. Peter joins Word of Mouth from Boston with more on the test and its critics.
(Photo by Gabriela Camerotti)
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I think it is important to distinguish between suicide/ suicidal attempts from suicidal ideology. Suicidal ideation is distinct from attempting suicide inasmuch as the former does not necessarily mean one would attempt to make it so. From a personal background, what suicidal ideation includes is a constant, repetitious thought process which drains one's energy and needs constant attention. There are fewer things a person can try to learn, or to be a part of, etc., because of the energy drain.
My family was prone to suicide, and my brother died from it when he was 41 years old. He had had suicidal ideation for decades, and each time he would reach out to me. Although I miss him fiercely, I know that he did not reach out that last time because life had become too painful to endure. I never let our parents know that it was it was a suicide (he died "falling" from hotel window.) His death alone left them enormously bereft; to know he did it himself would have added to their pain - if that had been possible.
Can a test distinguish between ideation and attempts?