Spirituality and suicidal behavior: The mediating role of self-forgiveness and psychache.

Abstract

Growing evidence for protective factors of spirituality against physical and mental health related outcomes has led to the consideration of spirituality as a protective factor for suicidal behaviors. Although initial support for this association is promising, spirituality has yet to be explored as it relates to psychache. Additionally, self-forgiveness has emerged as an important protective factor of suicidal behavior, but has not been explored in the context of psychache. Following a model developed by Webb, Hirsch, and Toussaint (2015), the current project explores the protective role of spirituality on suicidal behavior based on three dimensions of spirituality: ritualistic, theistic, and existential. A total of 262 individuals completed a self-report survey online through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results indicate that only Existential Spirituality is related to suicidal behaviors. Further, self-forgiveness and psychache were found to be serial mediators of this relationship. Implications for clinical interventions and directions for future research are discussed.

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