Evaluation of a Computerized Intervention for Learning to Re-Evaluate Suicidal Thoughts

As rates of suicide have increased over the last several decades, research has identified that roughly two-thirds of individuals who attempt suicide do so within one year from the time that they begin to think about suicide. This suggests a greater need for interventions designed to specifically help individuals learn to cope with thoughts of suicide to interrupt the process by which thoughts may lead to suicidal behaviors (i.e, attempts). This study aims to develop and test a novel intervention designed to help individuals feel more confident in their ability to manage thoughts of suicide. It is common that individuals with suicidal ideation may not understand where thoughts of suicide come from and are therefore distressed at the prospect they might never escape these thoughts. As a result, these individuals may attempt to distract from or avoid these thoughts in ways that contribute to suicidal ideation becoming more frequent and intense over the long-term. This \'experiential avoidance\' of suicidal ideation is therefore an excellent target for treatment and has in fact been shown to help reduce the distress associated with suicidal thoughts in several treatment studies. The intervention to be tested in this study seeks to reduce the distress related to suicidal thoughts by explaining that these thoughts are a normative response to extreme stress, and provides strategies that help individuals observe that suicidal thoughts are temporary (i.e., will not last \"forever\") and something they can tolerate without needing to rigidly control them. To maximize the potential of this intervention to help the largest number of individuals, it is entirely computerized and takes only 30 minutes to complete. This will help reduce many of the traditional barriers to treatment that individuals with suicidal ideation face (e.g., costs, time restrictions, and stigma of help-seeking). Individuals (N=106) with current suicidal ideation will be randomly assigned to participate in either the experiential avoidance intervention for suicidal thoughts or a control intervention. Experiential avoidance (i.e., distress or avoidance) and severity of suicide risk will be measured one week, and one month after participants complete their assigned intervention. It is expected that, compared to controls, individuals who receive the experiential avoidance intervention will report: 1) less experiential avoidance at one week follow-up, and 2) less severe suicide risk at one-month follow-up.