The temporal dynamics of wish to live, wish to die, and their short-term prospective relationships with suicidal desire
Open accessAbstract
The internal debate hypothesis (Kovacs & Beck, 1977) suggests that those at risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors may experience fluctuations in both the wish to live (WTL) and wish to die (WTD). Previous research has investigated this hypothesis using various cross-sectional (Goods et al., 2019 [cf. Page & Stritzke, 2020]) and longitudinal methodologies (e.g., Bryan et al., 2016). No investigations have determined the within-day temporal dynamics of WTL and WTD using ecological moment assessment (EMA), however. N = 49 undergraduate university students recruited from a research participant pool from a large southeastern university in the United States with a lifetime history of suicide ideation completed the current 10-day EMA investigation. Results demonstrated that WTL, WTD, and resulting suicidal ambivalence (i.e., relatively equal WTL/WTD ratings) demonstrated similar within-person person variability; however, WTD scores appeared to demonstrate higher average variability compared to WTL and ambivalence scores. Although state WTL and WTD were concurrently related to state suicidal desire, only WTD prospectively predicted suicidal desire when controlling for the influence of the outcome variable at the previous timepoint. Ambivalence scores also prospectively predicted suicidal desire when controlling for suicidal desire at the previous timepoint. Results support the clinical and theoretical utility of separate WTL and WTD assessment. WTD was relatively stable within this sample but may be closely related to risk for future suicidal thinking. Changes in WTL may reduce state risk for suicidal desire but could be more trait-like in nature compared to WTD. Future research that investigates these hypotheses should consider the study limitations outlined.
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Suicidal individuals report an internal struggle between a wish to die and a wish to live before, during and after suicidal behaviour.
“Suicidal individuals report an internal struggle between a wish to die and a wish to live before, during and after suicidal behaviour (e.g., 17–19).”
From Ambivalence model of suicidality [ABS-model]: an orientation model for the treatment of suicidal individuals (2024) · cites this paper as [19]
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- Authors
- Oakey-Frost, N., Moscardini, E. H., Cowan, T., Cohen, A., & Tucker, R. P.
- Affiliations
- Louisiana State University (US)
- Venue
- Behavior Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-05
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 584-594
- ISSN
- 0005-7894 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4313560962
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 9.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- repository.lsu.edu
- Locations
- Behavior Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Civil War Book Review (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Military Suicide Research Consortium
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Keywords
- desire for death, suicidal desire, suicidal ideation, within-person variability, temporal dynamics, ecological momentary assessment, university students, suicide risk
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, Prospective Studies, Suicidal Ideation
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