Imagery about suicide in depression-"Flash-forwards"?
Imagery about suicide in depression-"Flash-forwards"?
Suicide is a significant world health problem, with more deaths by suicide globally than by war. We need to better understand the cognitive processes underlying suicidal thinking for improved treatment development. Cognitive psychology indicates that mental imagery can be causal in determining future behavior, yet the occurrence of suicide-related imagery has not previously been investigated. Interviews with 15 depressed and formerly suicidal patients in remission found that all patients reported experiencing detailed mental imagery in addition to verbal thoughts when at their most despairing, for example images of making a future suicide attempt. A clinical measure of the severity of suicidal ideation was associated with both preoccupation with suicide-related imagery and perceived imagery realness. Echoing flashbacks in posttraumatic stress disorder, the current images appeared like “flash-forwards” to suicide. These results provide the first data to our knowledge on the existence of mental imagery in suicidality, opening a promising new avenue for research.
423-434
Holmes, Emily A.
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Crane, C.
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Fennell, M.J.V.
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Williams, J.M.G.
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13 October 2007
Holmes, Emily A.
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Crane, C.
77c54741-0f1e-431b-bd18-59fb46215388
Fennell, M.J.V.
619e3d3d-4e36-4137-84b0-372d0ec7253a
Williams, J.M.G.
e81db784-52e5-4d04-a0b6-811c8f7ae67f
Holmes, Emily A., Crane, C., Fennell, M.J.V. and Williams, J.M.G.
(2007)
Imagery about suicide in depression-"Flash-forwards"?
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 38 (4), .
(doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.10.004).
Abstract
Suicide is a significant world health problem, with more deaths by suicide globally than by war. We need to better understand the cognitive processes underlying suicidal thinking for improved treatment development. Cognitive psychology indicates that mental imagery can be causal in determining future behavior, yet the occurrence of suicide-related imagery has not previously been investigated. Interviews with 15 depressed and formerly suicidal patients in remission found that all patients reported experiencing detailed mental imagery in addition to verbal thoughts when at their most despairing, for example images of making a future suicide attempt. A clinical measure of the severity of suicidal ideation was associated with both preoccupation with suicide-related imagery and perceived imagery realness. Echoing flashbacks in posttraumatic stress disorder, the current images appeared like “flash-forwards” to suicide. These results provide the first data to our knowledge on the existence of mental imagery in suicidality, opening a promising new avenue for research.
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Published date: 13 October 2007
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Local EPrints ID: 507902
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507902
ISSN: 0005-7916
PURE UUID: dad1108b-8b3b-4050-92a2-2b6c87d0c566
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Date deposited: 07 Jan 2026 17:48
Last modified: 09 Jan 2026 17:53
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Author:
Emily A. Holmes
Author:
C. Crane
Author:
M.J.V. Fennell
Author:
J.M.G. Williams
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