Re-Vitalizing Worthiness: A theory of overcoming suicidality
Main Article Content
Abstract
Rates of suicide and suicidality have risen in many countries in recent years and in Ireland this trend has been particularly evident among young men (NOSP, 2005), focusing attention on how best to respond to this group. Although mental health professionals have been identified as a key group to respond to the suicidal person, it has been suggested that they are ill-prepared for working in this area (Maltsberger & Goldblatt, 1996; Ting et al., 2006; Cutcliffe & Stevenson, 2007). This study aimed to address these issues by developing a theoretical understanding of suicidality among young men to inform professional practice. Using Classic Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), in-depth one-to-one interviews were conducted with 17 young men who had been suicidal and had been in contact with the mental health services. The substantive theory that emerged, re-vitalizing worthiness in overcoming suicidality, describes the psychosocial process that young men go through to resolve their main concern, which centres on their painful pull between life and death. Overcoming suicidality involves moving from a death orientation to a life orientation while incorporating the inevitability of death into their new sense of being. This transition entails identity re-configuration whereby young men emerge as individuals of value who are deserving of life. The process is influenced significantly by personal insights and interpersonal interactions that influence their suicide trajectories and life pathways. The theory contributes to the fields of suicidology and mental health by providing a theoretical understanding of overcoming suicidality and identifying professional and social practices that facilitate and impede this process.
Downloads
Article Details
The Grounded Theory Review is an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the international Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.
References
Aldridge, D. (1998). Suicide The tragedy of hopelessness. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Beck, A.T., Kovacs, M. & Weissman, A. (1975). Hopelessness and Suicidal Behavior. Journal of American Medical Association, 234, 1145-1149.
Becker, E. (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Free Press Paperbacks.
Bergmans, Y., Brown, A.L. & Carruthers, A.S.H. (2007). Advances in crisis management of the suicidal patient. Current Psychiatry Reports. 9, pp74-80.
Burke, S., Kerr, R. & McKeon, P. (2008). Male secondary school students' attitudes towards using mental health services. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 25(2), 52-56.
Caruso, K. (2009). Suicide and Ambivalence [online]. Available from: http://www.suicide.org [Accessed 18th June 2009].
Clarke, S. (2001). Mapping Grief: An active approach to grief resolution. Death Studies, 25, 531-548.
Cutcliffe, J.R. & Stevenson, C. (2007). Care of the Suicidal Person. Philadelphia: Elsevier.
Esposito-Smythers, C., Jobes, D., Lester, D. & Spirito, A (2004). A case study on adolescent suicide: Tim. Achieves of Suicide Research, 8, 187-198.
Fisher, D. (1999). Hope, humanity and voice in recovery from mental illness. In: P. Barker, P. Campbell, & B. Davidson (eds.) From the ashes of experience: Reflections on madness, survival and growth. London: Whurr.
Gibbs, A. (1990). Aspects of communication with people who have attempted suicide. Journal of Advance Nursing. 15. pp1245-1249.
Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for qualitative research. US: Transaction Publishers.
Glaser, B.G. (1998). Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions. California: Sociology Press.
Glaser, B.G. (2001). The Grounded Theory Perspective: Conceptualization contrasted with description. California: Sociology Press.
Gordon, E. (2010). Discourses on Suicide: Considerations for Therapeutic Practice. Feedback: Journal of the Family Therapy Association of Ireland, 12(2), 4-15.
Hawton, K. (ed.) (2005). Prevention and treatment of suicidal behaviour: From suicide to practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Helm, A. (2009). Recovery and Reclamation: A pilgrimage in understanding who and what we are. In: P. Barker (ed.)
Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing: The craft of caring, (2nd ed). London: Hodder Arnold.
Hemmings, A. (1999). Attitudes to deliberate self-harm among staff in accident and emergency teams. Mental Health Care, 31(3), 342-347.
Janoff-Bulman, R. (1985). The aftermath of victimization: Rebuilding shattered assumptions. In: G. Figley (ed.) Trauma and its wake: The study and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. New York: Brenner/Mazel.
Joyce, T., Hazelton, M. & McMillan, M. (2007). Nurses with Mental Illness: Their workplace experience. International
Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 16, 373-380.
Maltsberger, J.T. & Goldblatt, M.J. (Eds.) (1996). Essential papers on suicide. New York: University Press.
NOSP (2005). Reach Out: National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention: 2005-2014. Dublin HSE.
O' Connor, R. & Sheehy, N.P. (2001). Suicidal Behaviour. The Psychologist, 14(1), 20-24.
Orbach, I. (2001). Therapeutic empathy with the suicidal wish: Principles of therapy with suicidal individuals. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 55(2), 166-184.
Roberts, M. (2005). The production of the psychiatric subject: power, knowledge and Michel Foucault. Nursing Philosophy, 6, 33-42.
Samuelsson, M., Sunbring, Y., Winnell, I. & Asberg, M. (1997). Nurses' attidudes to attempted suicide patients. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science, 11(4), 232-237.
Shneidman, E.S. (2001). Comprehending suicide: Landmarks in 20th-Century Suicidology. Washington: American Psychological Association.
Sommer-Rothenberg, D. (1998). Suicide and language. CMAJ, 159, 239-240.
Stevenson, C. & Gordon, E. (2009). Family Support: Growing the Family Support Network. In: P. Barker (Ed) Psychiatric and Mental Health nursing: The craft of caring (2nd Edition). London: Hodder Arnold.
Ting, L., Sanders, S., Jacobson, J.M., & Power, J.R. (2006).
Dealing with the aftermath: A qualitative analysis of mental health social workers' reactions after a client suicide. Social Work, 51(4), 329-341.
Watkins, P. (2007). Recovery: A guide for mental health practitioners. New York. Elsevier.
Wexler, L.M., DiFluvio, G. & Burke, T.K. (2009). Resilience and marginalized youth: Making a case for collective meaning-making as part of resilience research in public health. Social Science and Medicine, 69, 565-570.