Pereira AM, Campos RC. Exposure to suicide in the family and suicidal ideation in Portugal during the Covid-19 pandemic: The mediating role of unbearable psychache.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021;
61:598-612. [PMID:
34370323 PMCID:
PMC8420317 DOI:
10.1111/bjc.12325]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Objectives
This study tested the mediation effects of two facets of psychache – bearable and unbearable – in the relationship between exposure to suicide in the family and suicidal ideation in Portugal during the Covid‐19 pandemic.
Methods
Two hundred and forty‐four adults aged between 19 and 64 participated. Two groups were defined: one exposed to suicide in the family (n = 42) and a control group (n = 192).
Results
Path analysis using structural equation modelling tested a mediation model. Results demonstrated that unbearable psychache fully mediated the relationship between exposure to suicide and suicidal ideation, even when controlling for the mediation effects of depressive symptoms, the presence of a psychiatric diagnosis, and years of education.
Conclusions
These results suggest that rather than considering just the global experience of psychache in individuals exposed to suicide, researchers and clinicians should look to the presence of unbearable psychache given its contribution to suicidal ideation.
Practitioner points
Unbearable psychache fully mediated the relationship between exposure to suicide in the family and suicidal ideation
It is not the global experience of psychache that contributes to suicide ideation in individuals exposed to suicide in the family rather the presence of unbearable psychache
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