Emotion-related impulsivity and suicidal ideation: Towards a more specific model

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Suicidal ideation presents diverse phenomenology.
• Emotion-related impulsivity, a tendency towards unconstrained actions during intense emotions, is a potential risk variable.
• Understanding impulsivity's role may clarify variations in suicidal ideation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between emotion-related impulsivity and specific features of suicidal ideation.
• To test the hypothesis that emotion-related impulsivity is associated with severity, controllability, course, and antecedents of suicidal ideation.

Main Methods:

• Two adult samples (N=421, 221) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk.
• Participants completed online self-report measures assessing impulsivity dimensions and suicidal ideation characteristics.
• Oversampling was employed for individuals experiencing suicidal ideation.

Main Results:

• A specific form of emotion-related impulsivity was found to correlate with the severity of suicidal ideation.
• This impulsivity dimension also related to the perceived lack of controllability and dynamic course of ideation.
• Emotion-related impulsivity was associated with affective and cognitive precursors of suicidal ideation.

Conclusions:

• Findings underscore the importance of examining specific dimensions of impulsivity in relation to suicidal ideation.
• Specificity in assessing both impulsivity and suicidal ideation is crucial for a nuanced understanding.
• Despite study limitations (cross-sectional design, self-report), the results highlight a significant link.