The Internal Suicide Debate Hypothesis: Exploring the Life Versus Death Struggle

This study introduces direct assessment of a suicidal debate, revealing new aspects of suicide ideation. Results, from an online survey (1,016 responses) showed nearly all suicide-risk respondents engaged in the debate. In addition, debate frequency accounted for 54 percent of the variance in suicidality scores, & showed significant associations with other indicators of suicide risk. Lifely factors of the debate, reasons for living & dying, showed significant differences by suicidality, & most suicide-risk participants reported going online for such purposes, demonstrating a behavioural component of the debate. (49 refs.)