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First-person accounts of the processes and planning involved in a suicide attempt on the railway

Marsh, Ian; Marzano, Lisa; Mosse, David; Mackenzie, Jay-Marie

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Authors

Ian Marsh

Lisa Marzano

Jay-Marie Mackenzie



Abstract

Background: The processes and planning involved in choosing and attempting to die by a particular method of suicide are not well understood. Accounts from those who have thought about or attempted suicide using a specific method might allow us to better understand the ways in which people come to think about, plan and enact a suicide attempt. Aims: To understand from first-person accounts the processes and planning involved in a suicide attempt on the railway. Method: Thematic analysis was conducted of qualitative interviews (N = 34) undertaken with individuals who had contemplated or attempted suicide by train.Results: Participants explained how they decided upon a particular method, time and place for a suicide attempt. Plans were described as being contingent on a number of elements (including the likelihood of being seen or interrupted), rather than being fixed in advance. Participants mentally rehearsed and evaluated a particular method, which would sometimes involve imagining in detail what would happen before, during and after an attempt. The extent to which this involved others (train drivers, partners, friends) was striking.Conclusions: By giving people free reign to describe in their own words the processes they went through in planning and undertaking a suicide attempt, and by not interpreting such accounts through a lens of deficit and pathology, we can arrive at important insights into how people come to think and feel about, plan and enact a suicide attempt. The findings have implications in terms of understanding suicide risk and prevention more broadly.

Citation

Marsh, I., Marzano, L., Mosse, D., & Mackenzie, J.-M. (2021). First-person accounts of the processes and planning involved in a suicide attempt on the railway. BJPsych Open, 7, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.173

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 29, 2020
Online Publication Date Jan 1, 2021
Publication Date Jan 1, 2021
Deposit Date Mar 22, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 22, 2021
Journal BJPsych Open
Electronic ISSN 2056-4724
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Article Number e39
Pages 1-7
DOI https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.173

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Licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s), 2021.
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.





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