The Hopelessness Theory of Suicidality

Abstract

We have reviewed promising evidence for the hopelessness theory of suicidality. Moreover, we have begun to explore the developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to suicidality. Many important theoretical issues remain to be addressed such as further examination of the vulnerability-stress component of the theory. Moreover, prospective studies with young children are needed to more definitively explore the developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to suicidality. A particularly intriguing question is how “plastic” is cognitive vulnerability to suicidality? How may this vulnerability change over the lifetime? Finally, the logic of the hopelessness theory suggests that some individuals may become so profoundly hopeless that they cannot muster the effort to kill themselves even though they desperately want to die. Will future research identify individuals who are too hopeless to commit suicide? If their hopelessness does not remit, what happens to such individuals? Given the apparent paradox of suicide, it is crucial to understand the psychosocial processes culminating in this outcome. The work reported in this chapter suggests that the hopelessness theory of suicidality may contribute to such understanding. In turn, theoretical understanding of the processes underlying suicidality has considerable significance for alleviating and perhaps even preventing the tragedy of suicidality, such as experienced by A. B.

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