The Relationship Between Continuous Identity Disturbances, Negative Mood, and Suicidal Ideation

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Continuous identity, the sense of self over time, is crucial for psychological well-being.
• Disturbances in continuous identity have been anecdotally linked to various mental health conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between continuous identity and measures of depression, anxiety, and stress.
• To examine the predictive relationship between continuous identity and suicidal ideation.
• To utilize two validated measures for assessing continuous identity.

Main Methods:

• 246 participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk.
• Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale.
• Continuous identity was assessed using the Venn continuous identity task and the me/not me continuous identity task.

Main Results:

• Continuous identity disturbances significantly correlated with depressed mood (R² = 0.37, P < .01).
• Continuous identity emerged as a significant predictor of suicide severity, independent of demographic factors, negative life events, and depressed mood.
• A predictive discriminant analysis correctly classified 74.1% of participants into high and low suicide risk groups based on continuous identity, depression severity, and negative life events.

Conclusions:

• A deficit in continuous identity is a significant predictor of both depression and suicidality.
• Interventions focusing on the integration of perceived identities may be beneficial for reducing depressed mood and suicidality.