Exposure to suicide in the family: Suicide risk and psychache in individualswho have lost a family member by suicide

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to compare a sample of Portuguese individuals exposed to suicide in their families with a control group, for lifetime suicidality. This study also evaluated the incremental value of psychache (i.e., extreme psychological pain) in determining suicide risk beyond the contribution associated with having lost a family member by suicide. Method: A total of 225 community adults participated. Two groups were defined: a group exposed to suicide (n=53), and a control group (n = 172). Results: Results demonstrated that groups did significantly differ on the total score of the Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R), on the four individual SBQ-R items, and on psychache. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrated that having lost a family member by suicide and the construct of psychache each provided a significant unique contribution to explaining variance in suicide risk. The interaction between group membership and psychache also provided a further enhancement to the statistical prediction of suicide risk. Conclusion: Findings are discussed with regard to their implications for clinical intervention and postvention.