Do Automatic Self-Associations Relate to Suicidal Ideation?

This study investigated automatic self-associations in a large scale community sample that was part of the Netherlands Study of Depression & Anxiety. The results showed automatic self-associations of depression & anxiety were significantly related to suicide ideation & past suicide attempt. Moreover, the interactions between automatic self-depressive (anxious) associations & explicit self-depressive (anxious) beliefs explained additional variance over & above explicit self-beliefs. Together these results provide an initial insight into one explanation of why suicidal patients might report difficulties in preventing & managing suicidal thoughts. (40 refs.) JA