Cognitive-behavioral therapy applied to cases of suicidal ideation

Suicidal ideation is one of the red flags when it comes to mental health and emotional well-being of people, and their presence implies that the risk of attempting to kill themselves is relatively high.

Fortunately, from the world of Psychology, forms of intervention have been developed to help these people. Here we will talk about one of the most effective, cognitive behavioral therapy.

• Related article: "The Top 9 Reasons People Attempt Suicide"

What is suicidal ideation?

Suicidal ideation is the tendency to think of suicide as a real possibility, or even something clearly desirable and something to prepare for due to the psychological discomfort that is suffered.

Of course, suicidal ideation does not have clearly defined limits and is presented in a gray scale, which means that this The problem can also be detected in those who believe that they do not seriously consider committing suicide, although on numerous occasions they "fantasize" about the idea.

On the other hand, suicidal ideation is not itself a psychological disorder

, but a phenomenon that can occur together with a variety of psychopathologies and psychiatric disorders. Although it is common to associate suicidal thoughts with depression and in fact this disorder greatly increases the chances of developing them, the truth is that these can appear along with other mental disorders, some of which are not even part of mood disorders. cheer up.

In any case, this is a concept belonging to the clinical field and as such it is not possible to self-diagnose suicidal ideation, since only the professionals of the mental health can assess the extent to which this psychological phenomenon is present in a specific person, taking into account their characteristics and their context of lifetime.

What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

When we talk about cognitive-behavioral therapy, we refer to a set of therapeutic interventions in patients that have one fundamental aspect in common: are focused on helping people by intervening both on their observable actions and their habits of interaction with the environment, as on their way of thinking, feeling and generating and holding beliefs.

This is so because those of us who use the cognitive-behavioral intervention model help people under the premise that a synergy must be created between what is done and what is done. that is thought, progressing on both fronts so that change for the better is easier and reinforces itself, staying in a consistent and constant way in the life of the person. That is it is easier to develop healthy and adaptive mental processes if at the same time we develop actions that are in line with that psychological transformation.

Cognitive behavioral therapy was born from the research of psychologists Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, who, each in their own way, hypothesized that many of the problems Psychological factors of people have to do with the way in which people's mental schemes condition the way in which they interpret what happens to them and even their own identity. In addition, these cognitive schemas predispose people to behave in a way that helps to confirm that way of understanding the world.

But just as the mental affects behavior, the same is true in reverse: changing behaviors and situations to which we expose ourselves contributes to thinking and experiencing emotions differently. Thus, psychological well-being can be favored through this double path, intervening in the ideas and in the habits and exercises to practice to learn to relate in another way with the world.

How does it apply to people who have suicidal thoughts?

Volumes could be written about the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for people with suicidal ideation, and this article is not intended to go into detail.

In addition, it is important to make clear that this type of therapeutic intervention is not based on a set of fixed instructions to be applied like someone reading a recipe, but includes many strategies and techniques and, in addition, the way in which they are put into practice It depends on the disorder or problem that the patient presents, the environments and the people to whom they are exposed, their personality traits and habits, etc.

Taking the above into account, here we will see some of the keys to understanding what is the role of cognitive-behavioral therapy used in the face of suicidal thoughts, and why it is effective.

1. Helps to understand the emotions linked to those thoughts

Suicidal thoughts are almost always linked to a great emotional charge, but not all people who experience them are able to understand exactly what are those emotional forces behind suicidal ideation. The latter leads them not to critically analyze the "radical" and clear solutions that occur to them, such as taking their own life.

Given this, cognitive-behavioral therapy enhances self-knowledge through exercises and habits that are training patients' abilities to recognize their own emotions and feelings, as well as their impact on the thoughts that go through their heads and the habits they adopt to deal with the discomfort generated by some of those sensations.

• You may be interested in: "Suicidology: what it is, characteristics and objectives of this science"

2. Help find new incentive systems

Through cognitive-behavioral therapy, it is easier to find exciting projects and tasks, with the ability to emotionally mobilize the person and lead them to set short and long-term goals regardless of the possibility of suicide. This is so due to the structure of the double path of the cognitive behavioral model: on the one hand, it favors that the person is exposed to new situations and breaks with habits linked to suicidal ideation, and on the other hand he is offered an interpretation of the alternative reality that allows him to be more sensitive to the good things that the lifetime.

3. It goes hand in hand with a healthier lifestyle

Never underestimate how fitness influences how we feel emotionally. From cognitive-behavioral therapy, a series of guidelines are established so that people with suicidal ideation, many of whom feel very unmotivated before the perspective of doing anything, gradually incorporate healthy habits into your day to day, starting with the simplest and then progressing towards more behaviors complex.

The main areas of action are the quality of sleep, a good diet and the maintenance of physical activity as far as possible.

4. It allows to question beliefs that sustain negative biases

Once you've been thinking long enough about the idea of ​​suicide, it is usual that a self-confirmation logic is generated in that pessimistic way of interpreting life, since, although it seems paradoxical, to hold beliefs as opposed as those that support the idea of ​​taking off the life and at the same time those that show that life is worth living, in a sense generates as much or more discomfort as giving credit only to first.

Thus, a confirmation bias is created: everything that happens to us is interpreted as proof that we were right, which in this case means that suicide is the way out.

For this reason, cognitive-behavioral therapy helps people replace these harmful beliefs with others, and at the same time it contributes to them living experiences that help them demolish that old framework of thought.

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Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: Author.
• Fergusson, D.M.; Woodward, L.J.; Horwood, L.J. (2000). Risk factors and life processes associated with the onset of suicidal behavior during adolescence and early adulthood. Psychological Medicine, 30 (1): pp. 23 - 39.
• Nock, M.K.; Borges, G.; Bromet, E.J.; Alonso, J.; Angermeyer, M.; Beautrais, A.; Bruffaerts, R.; Chiu, W. T. et al. (2008). Cross-national prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. The British Journal of Psychiatry 192 (2): pp. 98 - 105.
• Zisook, S.; Lesser, I.M.; Lebowitz, B.; Rush, A.J.; Kallenberg, G.; Wisniewski, S.R.; et al. (2011). Effect of antidepressant medication treatment on suicidal ideation and behavior in a randomized trial: An exploratory report from the Combining Medications to Enhance Depression Outcomes Study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 72 (10): pp. 1322 - 1332.