Abstract
Experiential avoidance, pain, and suicide risk in a national sample of Gulf War veterans
Grove, J.L., Young, J.R., Chen, Z., Blakey, S.M., Beckham, J.C., Calhoun, P.S., ... & Kimbrel, N.A.
Objective: Pain confers risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Experiential avoidance (EA), which is relevant to both pain and suicide risk, has not been studied as a potential mechanism for this relationship. The present study tested the hypothesis that pain indirectly impacts suicide risk through EA in a national sample of Gulf War veterans.
Methods: Participants included a stratified random sample of United States veterans (N = 1,012, 78% male) who had served in the Gulf War region between August 1990 and July 1991. Validated scales were used to quantify levels of pain, EA, and suicide risk.
Results: Regression analyses indicated independent associations between pain, EA, and suicide risk; moreover, the association between pain and suicide risk was no longer significant once EA was included in model. Bootstrapping analyses confirmed that EA partially accounted for the cross-sectional association between pain and suicide risk, independent of common co-occurring problems, such as depression, PTSD, and alcohol use disorder symptoms.
Conclusions: EA could be a key modifiable risk factor to target in people experiencing pain.