Suicide is one of the main causes of death due to external factors throughout the world. This phenomenon is closely linked to serious psychological problems and personality disorders that must be identified in time to avoid fatal outcomes. Once we determine these problems, we can try to avoid future behaviors and suicide attempts.
A person with suicidal tendencies usually follows a certain pattern of behaviors and thoughts. Although it is true that there are individual differences and different triggers, we can learn to identify a person with suicidal characteristics before they carry out any dangerous autolytic attempt. If you want to know what is the psychological profile of a suicidal person we invite you to continue reading this PsychologyFor article.
Is there any type of personality that is more prone to suicide?
The answer is yes. Suicidal behavior is a phenomenon that has been studied in depth, with these investigations it has been possible to establish typical personality patterns in suicidal individuals. Among these patterns, we highlight the following:
Impulsiveness: One of the main factors that triggers self-harming behavior is impulsivity. By not thinking twice about how dangerous these types of acts are, many people end up hurting themselves and even regretting it later.
Low self-esteem: Feeling less than others can trigger tendencies and thoughts related to disappearing and escaping from the world in general.
Poor social skills: A prevention factor for suicidal behavior is being surrounded by people who support and care for us; the lack of social skills leads to a weaker support network and less help from loved ones.
Feelings of loneliness: related to the previous point, when we do not have many people who can care for us or support us, thoughts of suicide can come with more intensity. Feeling alone when we are going through difficult times can make us think that we are expendable and that nothing bad would happen if we died.
Lack of coping strategies: We all go through difficult times in our lives. However, we are able to get ahead thanks to different personal tools, resilience and inner strength. The lack of this type of strategies can cause many behaviors related to suicide to appear since it is established as a solution to all problems.
What a suicidal mind think
It is very difficult to understand why a person commits suicide. What kind of thoughts can someone have to go against their own survival instinct?
As we have mentioned previously, there are some psychological patterns and traits very characteristic in people who have thought about committing suicide or have attempted it. These traits can form very specific thoughts that feed suicidal feelings and impulses. Some of the things that a suicidal mind can think are:
Nobody loves Me
I am a dispensable person for others
I do everything wrong, it’s not worth doing anything with my life
If I disappear, no one would notice
Only death can make my inner pain fade away
If you know someone who has expressed these thoughts or you yourself have been able to think about it, it is vitally important that you go to a specialist to be able to effectively treat this problem.
Personality disorder and suicide
There is another high suicide risk factor: BPD or borderline personality disorder. This disorder is characterized by a pattern of impulsive behaviors, difficulty empathizing with other people, feelings of loneliness, and turbulent and unstable personal relationships.
Suicide attempts in patients diagnosed with this disorder are the first cause of hospitalization for these individuals. Furthermore, the percentage of completed suicide in these patients rises to 10%. That is, one in ten people with borderline personality disorder ends their life. These alarming data can serve as a signal to start treating people with BPD correctly.
Relationship between suicide and depression
Depression has been the illness most associated with suicidal behavior. In Mexico, the national prevalence of depression in the adult population in 2004 was 4.5%1
The characteristic features of a depressive episode highly coincide with the psychological profile of a suicidal person: negative thoughts towards oneself, frustration with life, feelings of loneliness…all of this seems to make an individual want to end their life.
Although depression is highly related to suicide, there are many other mental pathologies that drive and feed suicidal thoughts, for example, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or the aforementioned BPD.
It is important to indicate that the majority of pathological conditions are not “pure.” That is, a person usually presents different problems characteristic of one psychopathology or another and these interact with each other. This is why it is difficult to establish with precision and exact figures a relationship between suicide and specific mental illnesses.
Treatment after a suicide attempt
It may be the case that someone has tried to commit suicide and this surprises us. We may not have paid enough attention to the warning signs, however, we still have time to help that person.
What is the protocol to follow after a suicide attempt?
In this case, there are quite specific guidelines to prevent a person from trying to take their own life again. The first step is based on receiving clinical care and medical care to establish a certain physiological stability.
Secondly, a team of experts is responsible for psychiatrically evaluate to the person and refers them to the most appropriate services for the type of help they need. In these cases, when someone has already attempted suicide, they are usually prescribed some type of medication to contain and control suicidal thoughts or ideations.
If we know someone around us who is going through a similar situation and we want to help them, we can do the following:
Suggest that visit a specialist to receive professional care
Give them guidelines and strategies to improve their social skills
Help you foster your personal strengths
show you what you are not alone and that, with a little effort, you can live a full and happy life
This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Psychological profile of a suicidal person we recommend that you enter our Clinical Psychology category.
References
Espinosa, JJ, Grynberg, BB, & Mendoza, MPR (2009). Suicidal risk and lethality in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), in a psychiatric hospital. Mental Health, 32(4), 317-325.
