Hopelessness, stress of life, and suicide attempt

This monograph is devoted to the topical issue of suicidology-the possibility of predicting suicide attempts based on an analysis of certain psychological characteristics, in particular hopelessness, in connection with negative stressful events (life stress). Using structural equation modeling, it is shown that men who attempt suicide can be divided into two groups, one of which is more dependent on current stress, while the other is more dependent on early damaging stress. Similar groups (with less statistical power) can also be identified among women. The analysis shows that the likelihood of a suicide attempt is determined not so much by the formal level of emotional distress accumulated at a given point in time as by the chronological "point of application" of stress (early stress) and its consequences in the form of cognitive-emotional shifts (in particular, in the form of the phenomenon of hopelessness), as well as initial personality predispositions in the form of deficits in emotional stability and psychological plasticity.