Suicide as escape from self.

“Anxiety may often be caused by the threat of exclusion from social groups or loss of social bonds (e.g., Baumeister, in press; Baumeister & Tice, in press; Bowlby, 1969, 1973).”

“For instance, suicide has been posited to serve as an escape from awareness of self.(33) According to this model, outcomes that fall short of one’s standards and expectations for self are interpreted as personal inadequacies, which cause self-awareness to become painful and generate negative affect.”

“The consent among investigators is that mental pain is much more than the sum of negative feelings and sensations, making it a uniquely intolerable experience [3,32,38].”

“Intolerable self-blame and disgust, in line with the escape from self-theory and the interpersonal theory of suicide (Baumeister, 1990; Joiner, 2005), may elicit feelings that one is a burden and desire to escape from the self, which, in turn, increases thoughts about suicide.”

“…so le ly fo r th e pe rs on al us e of th e in di vi du al us er an d is no t to be di ss em in at ed br oa dl y. behavior (e.g., skipping school; Baumeister, 1990), schoolrelated variables as indicators of school support (an element of belongingness; Joiner, 2005), demographic factors, and…”

“The view of suicide as being an “escape” is somewhat neutral, a theory which can be ascribed to Shneidman (36) who described the “psychache” Frontiers in Psychiatry | www.frontiersin.org 4 that one wants to escape from, and Baumeister (37).”

“1 First, one theory of suicide posits that suicide is a means to escape from negative self-focus (Baumeister, 1990).”

“has already satisfied some of the metatheoretical requirements outlined by Baumeister and Leary (1995) for proposing a fundamental motivation, although clearly there is additional work yet to be done.”

“Baumeister (1990) described “cognitive deconstruction;” suicidal patients shift toward less meaningful, integrated forms of thought.”

“These authors indicated that older adults with narcissistic pathology may see suicide as a means to escape from the self, as proposed by Baumeister (1990), highlighting their difficulties with age-related life changes and transitions.”

“When focused on immediate, low-level details of action, in contrast, behaviors and decisions should be more likely to be viewed as compartmentalized within the domain or task at hand and therefore not pertinent to one’s self-views (see also Baumeister, 1990; Emmons, 1992), as has been speculated to be true of individu…”

“In particular, the extremes that some individuals will go to in order to escape self–awareness (e.g., suicide; Baumeister, 1990) suggest that shifting attention away from the self is not a trivial or easy endeavor.”

“This is consistent with the theories highlighting the difficulties in emotion regulation (e.g., Baumeister, 1990; Joiner, 2005; Jollant et al., 2011; Linehan, 1993; Williams, 1997) and cognitive control (e.g., Richard-Devantoy et al., 2014) among individuals with STBs.”

“…(2) inappropriate internal attribution; (3) feeling incompetent and unliked; (4) negative emotions; (5) cognitive decline, focusing only on immediate activities and feelings; (6) long-term cognition makes death a means to escape bad emotions and painful self-consciousness (Baumeister, 1990).”

“…et al., 1976; Dennis et al., 2007; Hjelmeland et al., 2002; Jacobson et al., 2013; Skogman & Öjehagen, 2003) or from aversive self-awareness (Baumeister, 1990); gaining relief from a terrible state of mind (Bancroft et al., 1976, 1979; Dennis et al., 2007; Holden & DeLisle, 2006; Jacobson…”

“These findings support theories of suicide that suggest that people wish to die when they fail to adaptively cope with overwhelming negative affect (Baumeister, 1990; O’Connor, 2011; Williams, 1997).”

“…of intense stress (i.e., one’s reaction to a stressor) and a perceived inability to reduce or tolerate this stress, due to either the absence of alternative coping strategies or the perception that alternate coping would be ineffective (Baumeister, 1990; O’Connor, 2011; Shneidman, 1996).”

“A number of extant theories of suicide risk have pointed to mediating cognitive and affective constructs (eg, Abramson et al, 1989; Abramson et al, 1998 ; Baumeister, 1990 ; Joiner & Rudd, 1995 ; Priester & Clum, 1992 ).”

“When examining the association between parental bonding and suicidality in adulthood, one must consider the close relationship of suicidality to depression [14,15] and other mental disorders like anxiety [16] or alcohol abuse/dependence [17,18].”

“Regression can occur when self organization gives way and the mind breaks up (Baumeister, 1990; Maltsberger, 2004).”

“Baumeister (1990) stated that the desire to escape from the current situation but seeing no way out is central to suicide.”

“…that people experience stronger emotional reactions with highly abstract, meaningful thinking than with more concrete thinking (e.g., Vallacher and Wegner 1985, 1987), which is reflected in people’s shift to concrete thinking when they want to escape negative emotion (e.g., Baumeister 1990, 1991).”

“…et al. 2002; Lee and Kleinman 2000), as the traditional patriarchal social norms and the related gender role expectation require them to face unbearable problems; committing suicide is thus a way to escape the social stress before when they feel depressed in some situation (Baumeister 1990).”

“According to escape theories of suicide [27], individuals wish to die when they feel overwhelmed by acute and unbearable affects that prevent them from adopting any adaptive regulation strategies.”

“Baumeister in his theory “suicide as escape from self” (30), although not directly using the term “psychological pain”, referred to a painful awareness of self ’s inadequacy, which in turn generates negative emotions and a strong desire to escape this state, bringing irrationality and inhibition, “making drastic measu…”

“For instance, Baumeister (1990) proposed that impulsive individuals are prone to rashly engaging in suicidal behavior in an effort to escape aversive self-awareness resulting from acute stress.”

“Notably, these definitions and explanations agree well with significant theoretical and empirical work on suicidality (e.g., Beck et al. 1990; Baumeister 1990; Shneidman 1993; Linehan 1993; Rudd et al. 2009).”

“…(e.g., societal stigma; Durkheim 1897), hopelessness (e.g., expectations of negative reactions to gendered self; Beck 1967), unbearable psychological pain (e.g., body dissatisfaction; Shneidman 1985), and desire to escape aversive self-awareness (e.g., internalized transpho-bia; Baumeister 1990).”

“Other work finds that social rejection is marked by an acute sense of self‐ awareness (Baumeister, 1990, 1991) that is enhanced if rejection is based on some stigmatizing characteristic (Twenge, Catanese, & Baumeister, 2003).”

“This heterogeneity is not explicitly addressed by the psychological theories of suicide, although Baumeister (1990) notes that a stronger motivation may be expected to result in suicidal acts of higher lethality.”

“Several reports 76 MICHEL AND VALACH have described feeling like an automaton, dominated by feelings of numbness immediately prior to self-injury (Baumeister, 1990; Shneidman, 1980), as well as analgesia (Orbach, 1994).”

“, 2006; Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991). Thus, through negative reinforcement, NSSI becomes an automatic escape response. In support of this theory, research has demonstrated associations between avoidance behaviors and NSSI. For instance, Gratz and Roemer (2004) found that higher levels of emotional non-acceptance wer…”

“More recently, Baumeister (1990) has termed this disengagement from the future "cognitive deconstruction", where, in order to avoid contemplating a painful future, the person switches off from thinking about the future.”

“Escalating emotional distress leading to suicidal ideation is consistent with the escape theory of suicide (Baumeister, 1990).”

“Indeed, to date, two well-known theories attempt to explain why individuals engage in suicidal behavior: the interpersonal theory of suicide (Joiner, 2005) and suicide as an escape from the self (Baumeister, 1990).”

“Attempting suicide represents escape at its most maladaptive extreme (Baumeister, 1990), and is a compelling test case if escape behavior does involve abandoning the impending future for an alternative.”

“The Escape Model (Baumeister, 1990) posits that suicide attempts occur when individuals try to escape negative views of the self, negative affect; in this model, life problems and short-term escape by death is desired over long-term consequences associated with death.”

“For example, Baumeister’s model of suicide and self-injury holds that increased self-awareness of personal shortcomings and failures may lead to constricted thinking, with self-injurious behavior (including suicide) providing an escape from this aversive self-awareness state (Baumeister, 1990).”

“According to theory (Baumeister, 1990; Riskind et al., 2000a, b; Rector et al., 2008), time perception is distorted in anxious presuicidal individuals and may facilitate thoughts about suicide as a means to quickly stop psychological pain.”

“Theoretical approaches to suicide have highlighted a number of vulnerability factors for suicide; however, a shared idea is that unbearable psychological pain is the common stimulus in suicidal behaviour (e.g., Baumeister, 1990; O’Connor, 2011).”

“This cognitive response style may also represent an attempt to achieve a sense of psychological cohesion in the face of painful fragmentation of the self [32, 33].”

“This lack can lead to psychological mechanisms to avoid those difficulties, which consequently cause suicidal behaviors (Baumeister, 1990).”

“Escape from the experience of psychological pain has been theorized as a primary function of suicide (Baumeister, 1990; Li et al., 2014; Mee, Bunney, Reist, Potkin, & Bunney, 2006; Shneidman, 1993).”

“Modern psychological accounts of suicide such as the entrapment (Williams et al., 2005) and escape (Baumeister, 1990) frameworks, interpersonal theory (Van Orden et al., 2010), motivational-volitional theory (O'Connor & Kirtley, 2018), and the three-step theory (Klonsky et al., 2018) share the view…”

“Recent conceptualizations of self-injurious behaviors suggest that they function to avoid aversive cognitive and/or emotional experiences (Baumeister, 1990; Boergers, Spirito, & Donaldson, 1998; Chapman, Gratz, & Brown, 2005; Nock & Prinstein, 2004, 2005). It follows that individuals engaging in self-injurious thought…”

“A psychological theory with special relevance for our study is Baumeister’s (1990) theory of suicide as escape from self.”

“Baumeister’s (1990) escape theory complements this view.”

“…(Beck, Kovacs, & Weissman, 1975) and that suicide attempts are the result of individuals perceiving themselves in an “impossible situation” – a feeling that there is no escape from the mental pain, uncertainty, and confusion caused by life (Baumeister, 1990; Beck et al., 1975; Levi et al., 2008).”

“, to “drown one’s sorrows” in alcohol): though both entail a desire to lessen the burden of self-awareness, self-transcendent motivation does so through affirming meaningful connections with entities beyond the self, whereas self-escape motivation is driven by a desire to numb meaningful thought and thereby avoid awar…”

“However, as our study illustrates, suicidality may be experienced as a crisis of the self (Webb, 2010), involving weakened self-worth or a total loss thereof (Orbach, 1997; Shneidman, 1980), and suicidal acts may be a way of escaping from aversive self-awareness (Baumeister, 1990).”

“'s [26] hopelessness model; and Baumeister's [27] theory of suicide as an escape from unbearable self-hatred and self-loathing.”

“In his theory of suicide as escape from the self, Baumeister (1990) described a series of causal steps leading to suicide, starting from aversive self-awareness and ending with cognitive deconstruction, a state with a low level of self-awareness and of capacity for self-restraint.”

“Escape theories suggest that a SA is intended as a final solution to the perception of a persistent and unbearable negative cognitive and affective state (Baumeister, 1990; Nock and Kessler, 2006; Whitlock and Knox, 2007).”

“This idea of ‘‘death as an escape from pain’’ also seems related to the concepts of cognitive constriction (Barak & Miron, 2005; Fekete, 2002; Shneidman, 1993) and cognitive deconstruction, leading to a wish to escape from pain as well as painful self-awareness (Baumeister, 1990).”

“Built on the theoretical work of Shneidman (1993), Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery (1979), Baumeister (1990), Linehan et al. (1983), and Jobes (1995), the SSF uses both quantitative rating scales and qualitative open-ended items related to the patient’s psychological pain, stress, agitation,…”

“Baumeister (1990) identified self-harming behaviours as occurring on a continuum of maladaptive problem solving and avoidance behaviours of young people unable to envisage adaptive solutions to the crises occurring in adolescence.”

“The questionnaire was developed from the suicide literature and comprised 18 items describing experiences associated with suicidality and well-being (see Table 2), such as negativity about the self (Baumeister, 1990) or the future (Beck, Steer, Kovacs & Garrison, 1985), and affects pertaining to interpersonal relating…”

“Some events can elicit such a strong sense of shame or guilt that individuals feel that suicide is their only way out (Baumeister, 1990; Bryan, Morrow, Etienne, & Ray-Sannerud, 2012; Hastings et al., 2002; Lester, 1997).”