Schizophrenia is often found in families with high rates of psychological illness. When one member of a family has schizophrenia, the chances of other members developing psychological problems, including schizophrenia and psychosis, increase. Some of the factors that are considered when analyzing risk for illness are family history, life stressors, trauma, and IQ. Each of these had a unique relationship with risk and schizophrenia.

In a recent study, Kim W. Verweij of the Department of Psychiatry at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands sought to explore the influence and evidence of IQ in families with schizophrenia. Using a sample 696 individuals with schizophrenia and their siblings (766), Verweij compared IQ scores to those of 517 individuals with no history of schizophrenia or psychiatric issues. Researchers collected data from all participants without schizophrenia and scored them separately. Those with schizophrenia also completed IQ tests and their results were analyzed independently.

The results showed that siblings of those with schizophrenia only had elevated IQs if they themselves had any history of mental health issues, or if other members of their family did. Those siblings who did not have a family history, excluding the member with schizophrenia, had average IQs compared to siblings with a robust family history. Verweij also found that the individuals with schizophrenia, who also had a family member with mental health issues, had higher IQ scores than the individuals with schizophrenia and no family history.

Verweij believes that this suggests a high familial influence on psychiatric impairment in the participants with family illness, while those without may be more influenced by external and variable factors, such as trauma, premature birth, or other stressors. Not only do these factors create a ripe environment for psychological impairment, but they also increase vulnerability for intellectual and cognitive disability.

This study provides much needed insight into the unique association between IQ and genetic predisposition for schizophrenia. Verweij added, “Since the association between IQ scores and family history of psychiatric disorder in siblings is not extensively investigated, more research is needed to further address this question.”

Reference:
Verweij, K.H.W., Derks, E.M., Genetic Risk and Outcome in Psychosis (GROUP) investigators (2013). The association between intelligence scores and family history of psychiatric disorder in schizophrenia patients, their siblings and healthy controls. PLoS ONE 8(10): e77215. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077215

“I’m such a loser.”

“I can’t do anything right.”

“I’m ugly.”

Too often, people brutally judge and attack themselves. If everyone treated others as poorly as they treat themselves, the old biblical adage, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” could be a recipe for war.

Negative Beliefs, Self-Loathing, and Why It Matters

Incessant negative beliefs about oneself may be called self-loathing, self-judgment, self-attack, or low self-esteem, but it all boils down to one menacing problem: self-hatred. At its most extreme, self-hatred can lead people to retreat into substance use, suicidal and other self-destructive behaviors, or violence toward others.

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If you beat up on yourself, are disgusted with yourself, or in any other way experience the effects of self-hatred, there are two important things to know: why the self-hatred exists, and what you can do about it.

Why Self-Hatred?

Self-hatred almost always stems from childhood. Trauma experienced after childhood also can fuel negative feelings about oneself.

Children believe what they hear from others. If a parent tells a child that she is good for nothing or can’t do anything right, then that becomes the truth in the child’s mind. It takes a very mature and insightful child to say to herself, “Something is wrong with Mom/Dad for telling me this. An adult shouldn’t say such mean things to me. I’m just a child.”

Instead of saying, “Something is wrong with Mom/Dad,” the child usually thinks, “Something is wrong with me.” That simply is how a child’s mind works. Children need safety and stability. It is much less chaotic for a child to think something is wrong with himself than to think he cannot rely on the people upon whom he depends for food, shelter, and survival.

Sometimes, a child never hears harsh judgment from a parent or other caregiver, yet self-hatred manages to fester. This happens when, for whatever reason (genetics, environment, plain bad luck, etc.), a child experiences anxiety, perfectionism, or other traits that conjure feelings of self-blame in the face of fear, imperfection, or other perceived flaws.

Trauma, too, can inspire self-hatred. It can feel safer to attack oneself over what happened than to accept that bad things happen randomly in the world—and can happen again, at any time. As a result, many people who have endured sexual assault, combat, or other trauma blame themselves for what they endured, and self-hatred grows.

Self-hatred and shame are related but not synonymous. Shame can be healthy, the mind’s tool for helping people understand when they have done something that must not be repeated. However, the majority of shame that people experience is not a healthy tool for learning right from wrong. Instead, it is a manifestation of self-hatred, a message that when they do things wrong (or, at least, differently than they wish they had) then they are wrong, a judgment of the person and not the act.

Many people who feel shame cannot assign it to any particular action. Shame is a feeling of essential badness that they simply cannot shed. Often, people experiencing unhealthy shame feel that if others saw their real self, then nobody could possibly love them.

It is helpful to understand how your own self-hatred is formed. This can help you to develop compassion for yourself. No matter what you did or did not do as a child, no matter what trauma you endured, the hurt part of you deserves love, compassion, and nurturing. No matter what, you possess a fundamental goodness that is not touched by external events, in the same way the clouds can cover the sun but never really touch it.

The Antidote: Self-Compassion

A seminal work on self-hatred and self-compassion is titled, appropriately enough, Compassion and Self Hate (by Theodore Isaac Rubin). More recently, mental health professionals have published quite a few more books on self-compassion, including The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion (by Christopher Germer), Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind (by Kristin Neff), and The Power of Self-Compassion (by Mary Wellford).

There are websites devoted to self-compassion. There also is an evidence-based psychotherapy that cultivates self-compassion. Called compassion-focused therapy, it extends cognitive behavioral concepts to foster in people the ability to soothe, accept, and understand themselves.

The common theme underlying all these works is that self-compassion is the antidote to self-hate. So how do you create more compassion for yourself? Over time, I will write about many different ways to grow the seeds of self-compassion. For now, here are a few tips to get you started:

• Talk to yourself the way you talk to someone you care about: In Compassion and Self Hate, Dr. Rubin advises readers to tell themselves, “I treat myself as I treat a child I love.” Cognitive behavioral therapists employ a similar technique, often invoking the question, “What would you say to a good friend who was going through the same thing you are going through?” These are important questions. If you hate yourself, you likely say things to yourself that you would not dare say to another person. What would you say to somebody else who has the exact same traits as you? What could you say to yourself?
• Recognize that beliefs do not equal truths: Often, people believe what they tell themselves. If you think you are a loser, you may believe it is absolute truth. Try this cognitive behavioral technique called “the three C’s”: catch, check, change. Catch yourself thinking something negative about yourself. Check whether your distressing thought is true. Change it, if not. You can talk back to your negative thoughts. Challenge them. Serve as a defense attorney to the prosecutor in your head.
• Embrace the concept of “good enough”: Many people feel they should be perfect—never angry, always generous, never critical, always right, and so on. These expectations deny that imperfection is the human condition. If you are one of these people with too-high expectations for yourself, ask yourself what is good enough?
• Consider turning to spirituality or religion: Many spiritual or religious traditions center on the belief that people are flawed but inherently good, not only lovable but also inherently loved. These beliefs can serve as a huge balm for the hurting soul. The practices of meditation and mindfulness, too, can foster feelings of self-compassion as well as loving kindness toward others.
• If you hate yourself for mistakes you made, make amends: You may be reading this and thinking, “This does not apply to me. I did something so awful that I can never be forgiven.” First, as much as you condemn yourself, ask if you would equally condemn—to their face—someone else who did the same thing. If not, then you are being unfair to yourself. Perhaps you really did do something awful. If you cannot make amends to the person or people you harmed, do something good for somebody else. Beating up on yourself serves nobody. Doing good for others or taking part in a larger movement not only helps others, it helps you—and it can lead to self-forgiveness.
• Try therapy: A good, compassionate therapist can help you foster self-compassion and better understand the roots of your self-loathing.

My Questions for You

Do you ever hate yourself? If so, what helps you to deal with this brutal judge who lives inside your head? What tips do you have for others in the same situation?

Mary-Lynne, the 10-month-old baby in a video called “Emotional baby! Too cute!” (see below) feels her mother’s musically expressed emotion very strongly. As her mother soulfully sings the 1988 Rod Stewart song “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” Mary-Lynne’s facial expressions move from wide-eyed wonder to scrunch-faced smiles to streaming tears to what appear to be grimaces.

Since being published on October 18, 2013, the video has gone viral with its over 16 million views and 100,000-plus “likes” (and counting), with most of the YouTube comments consisting of things like “cute baby,” and “this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” But with over 3,000 “dislikes,” there are also some who insist that the video is “not so cute”; one of these is Tere Peman, who comments, “The baby is scared of mom[’s] unusual voice. [S]he begin[s] to smile when [the] mother seems to stop singing.” Peman, who says in her comment that she is a mother, too, goes on to suggest that the baby is, in fact, “suffering.”

Even the mother, Amanda Leroux, acknowledges this toward the end of the video when she stops singing and says to baby Mary-Lynne, “Oh, you feel the pain in the song, yeah honey? Big tears. Are you crying? Oh, you’re crying, monkey. OK, mommy’s done. … It’s just a song.”

In a Skype interview with The Today Show on Tuesday, Leroux says she’s been singing to Mary-Lynne since she was in the womb, and was just trying to capture video of her baby’s particularly potent emotional response to the song to share with her husband and family (Schlosser, 2013). Her intention was not for the video to go viral, and she probably couldn’t have imagined that multitudes of people would be commenting on what she presents as an intimate moment of bonding with her child. Such is the nature of social media, though.

And considering the widespread viewing of this video as well as the mixed, predominately positive responses of those who have watched and commented on it, GoodTherapy.org decided to check in with Ruth Wyatt, LCSW and child psychology Topic Expert, to see what she thinks of the video “Emotional Baby, Too Cute!”

A Child Psychology Expert Perspective on ‘Emotional Baby’

Wyatt’s immediate response was that Mary-Lynne, although an adorable baby, is not at all happy. “Clearly, this mother is wanting to share something with her daughter. Sharing our feelings with our children can be a very important way we connect to them,” she says. However, Wyatt adds, “As beautiful and important as it is for us to share our feelings with our children, we need to understand where our children are developmentally and what they can handle.”

Noting how Mary-Lynne smiles when her mother stops singing and cries when she starts again, Wyatt says, “My sense is that the baby [is] in some distress and that she [is] confused by her mother’s singing, hence the shift in affect.” She adds, “Perhaps picking up on the sadness of the song or responding to the altered state of the mother, the baby does not seem to feel safe. My sense is that she wants the calm, soothing mom to return.”

She goes on to say, “Babies have no language but they can feel and take in the cadence of our voices, our feelings behind our words. I think this mother just needs to tune in a bit more to these aspects of her baby and maybe save the sad songs for when the baby is a bit older.”

Have you seen the video? What do you think? Is “emotional baby” cute, or not so cute?

Reference:

1. Leroux, A. (2013, October 18). “Emotional baby! Too cute!” YouTube . Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIsCs9_-LP8
2. Schlosser, K. (2013, October 29). Baby girl moved to tears by mom’s singing in viral video. Today.com. Retrieved from http://www.today.com/moms/baby-girl-moved-tears-moms-singing-viral-video-8C11487730

About half of all Americans believe in ghosts, with 22% reporting a personal experience with ghostly phenomena, according to a 2009 CBS News poll. Science and religion have long competed to explain seemingly paranormal experiences, such as hearing the voice of a deceased loved one or seeing ghostly figures. While no one can say with certainty that ghosts aren’t a part of our world, psychological phenomena may explain many common experiences.

Suggestibility and Priming

People are highly social creatures, and this means they’re also highly suggestible. If you see another person behaving fearfully, for example, you’re more likely to feel fear, even if there’s no obvious threat.

Suggestibility can fuel myths about ghosts and haunted houses, particularly in an environment that seems creepy. If you stay at an ostensibly haunted house, you’re primed to see ghosts because you’ve been told you might. This means you might interpret a strange noise as a sign that a ghost is present, particularly if other people seem frightened by the noise. Old and abandoned houses and locations that have a scary story—such as a hotel where someone was killed, or a home where someone committed suicide—can further prime your mind to “see” ghosts, even when you might otherwise explain away unusual apparitions and sounds.

Hallucinations

It’s easy to think of hallucinations as the domain of people who are disconnected from reality, but hallucinations are fairly common. About 10% of people who don’t have psychiatric issues report experiencing a hallucination at least once. People are more likely to hallucinate after the death of a loved one, and a large portion of people who have lost close family members report “seeing” or “hearing” the family member shortly after his or her death.

If you have vision or hearing problems, your odds of hallucinating are greatly increased, as degenerative conditions that affect the senses can cause you to perceive things that aren’t really there.

Sleep Issues

Perhaps one of the most frightening and common human experiences is the “phantom face.” Sleep paralysis helps to keep you safe when you’re sleeping. It prevents you from jumping out of your bed when you dream you’re jumping on a trampoline and ensures that you don’t actually hit someone when you dream you’re in a fight. Sometimes, though, sleep paralysis lasts a few moments longer than sleep itself. This can cause you to wake up unable to move, and images from your dreams can make their way into your waking life, seeming very real.

About 40% of people report seeing an image, such as a phantom face, upon waking up. This phenomenon can be terrifying, but it’s not caused by ghosts. The technical term for this type of sleep-induced hallucination is a hypnagogic hallucination.

Connecting Unconnected Things

The human mind is incredibly adept at building connections. This is the reason we’re able to master complex math, build seemingly intelligent machines, and remember vast quantities of information. But this connection-building tendency can also cause people to believe things that aren’t true. Apophenia is the tendency to see connections between unconnected events. This tendency can cause you to interpret mundane experiences as supernatural. For example, if you dream about your grandmother and then hear her favorite song on the radio, you might conclude that she’s communicating with you.

Pareidolia, a related phenomenon, occurs when people “complete” incomplete images. There are mundane examples of this in everyday life. Anyone who has noted that the front of a car looks like a face is engaging in pareidolia. Pareidolia, however, can also cause people to see ghostly images. Your mind, for example, might perceive a cloud of dust as a face. Combined with high suggestibility, apophenia and pareidolia can cause you to see things that aren’t there. And while the two behaviors can be associated with some mental health conditions, they’re normal cognitive processing mechanisms that everyone engages in from time to time.

References:

1. Alfano, S. (2009, February 11). Poll: Majority believe in ghosts. CBSNews. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500160_162-994766.html
2. Pareidolia. (n.d.). The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved from http://skepdic.com/pareidol.html
3. Poulsen, B. (2012, July 31). Being amused by apophenia. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reality-play/201207/being-amused-apophenia
4. Sacks, O. W. (2012). Hallucinations. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

People have long constructed elaborate stories to explain things that science can’t. Almost every society has at least one origin myth. Ancient people constructed human-like gods to explain the weather, illnesses, and problems with interpersonal interactions.

While it’s easy to look back on outdated superstitions with equal parts confusion and judgment, there are still some things science hasn’t been able to fully explain. Parapsychology aims to fill this gap in knowledge, explaining phenomena that leave some people confused and others doubting the existence of the phenomena in the first place.

What Parapsychologists Study

Parapsychologists study any seemingly paranormal phenomena that are not studied by the broader psychological or scientific communities. Telepathy, near-death experiences, and extrasensory perception (ESP) have historically been popular parapsychology topics, alongside near-death experiences. Ghost-like phenomena such as apparitions are increasingly popular topics of study. Ian Stevenson, a University of Virginia psychiatrist, investigated reincarnation and past lives, and found that very young children sometimes reported “memories” of previous lives or life before birth.

Tools and Theories

Parapsychologists have developed a number of theoretical explanations for paranormal phenomena. For example, Stevenson found that, of the children who described reincarnation, almost half had birth marks. He theorized that these marks could be the sites of injuries, or even fatal wounds, in a previous life.

Electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) has quickly become one of the most widely used tools in the parapsychological community. EVP, used on ghost-hunting television shows, works by increasing background noise on a recording. The recording is then amplified and played back, and the resulting sounds can resemble a human voice.

Parapsychologists have developed several theories to explain EVP. Some argue that ghosts and other entities create EVP via psychokinesis. Mainstream scientists have argued, by contrast, that EVP could be the result of radio interference and fraud. People who are invested in believing EVP may hear voices where there are none. Parapsychologists who take EVP recordings often transcribe the recordings in an attempt to make them more easily understood, but these transcriptions can be suggestive and cause listeners to hear a voice when they might not otherwise.

Reception in the Scientific Community

Parapsychology is widely considered a pseudoscience in the mainstream psychological community. This does not, however, mean that research into paranormal phenomena is scientifically invalid. Some seemingly paranormal phenomena, such as near-death experiences, have been researched by mainstream scientists. Oxygen deprivation and other abnormalities in the brain near death may contribute to near-death experiences. Apparitions such as ghosts could be caused by hallucinations, dreams, and high suggestibility.

Mainstream psychologists emphasize that parapsychology is more focused on confirming the existence of paranormal phenomena than scientifically explaining it. Small or biased sample sizes can alter the results of studies, and there have been several reports of outright fraud. For example, psychics and mediums may use cold and warm readings to get seemingly accurate results. A cold reading works by making broad statements that are very likely to be true, such as, “I’m sensing an older man in your life who has died.” Many people know at least one older man who has died. A warm reading gains information about a subject through secondary sources. A psychic might, for example, talk to a subject’s mother prior to her reading and gain additional information that can be used to convince the subject of the reading’s validity.

Some paranormal psychologists accept unscientific or unproven premises as part of their research. They might assume, for example, that all people have past lives and then attempt to demonstrate how past lives affect present ones, without ever demonstrating the actual existence of past lives.

References:

1. About the Parapsychological Association. (n.d.). The Parapsychological Association. Retrieved from http://www.parapsych.org/base/about.aspx
2. Carroll, R. T. (n.d.). Parapsychology. The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved from http://skepdic.com/parapsy.html
3. French, C. C. (2008, March 15). Is parapsychology a pseudoscience? [PDF]. Conference on Science and Pseudoscience.

What does it mean to hear voices? Is someone who hears voices and sees visions necessarily schizophrenic, or could these hallucinations, as they are commonly called, simply be another of the myriad ways the human psyche responds to traumatic life experiences?

Groups like Intervoice, which is also known as The International Network for Training, Education, and Research into Hearing Voices, are devoted to raising awareness of what it means to hear voices–an experience that is far more common than most people believe.

And yet, despite increased global consciousness regarding voices and visions, the fact remains that the majority of individuals who show up in psychiatrists’ offices saying they hear and see things that no one else sees or hears are likely to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Unfortunately, this often leads to long periods of psychiatric care that may cause further damage to these individuals’ psyches.

A Personal Account: Eleanor Longden’s Story

In a TED TalentSearch video published on July 5, 2012, Eleanor Longden, a woman who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17 years old, shares her lifelong struggle to understand and make peace with the voices in her head. Longden, who is now a published academic author with a master’s degree in psychology, says her experience of hearing a “disembodied voice” as a teenager quickly led to hospital admittance and receiving the diagnoses of schizophrenia.

Being labeled mentally ill in the eyes of healthcare professionals took its toll on her self-image; additionally, she says, “[H]aving been encouraged to see the voice not as an experience, but as a symptom, my fear and resistance towards it intensified.”

This, in turn, propelled her to take an “aggressive stance” against her mind, which she believes contributed to an increased cacophony of voices resounding in her head. The voices eventually morphed into visual hallucinations of a “bizarre” and “grotesque” nature. At one point, she says she felt “so tormented by my voices that I attempted to drill a hole in my head in order to get them out.”

Ultimately, Longden said that when her perspective began to shift regarding her chances of recovery thanks to the help of the “good and generous people” who believed in her, she discovered what she had always suspected: “My voices were a meaningful response to painful life events, particularly childhood events, and as such, were not my enemies, but . . . insights into solvable emotional problems.” This realization gave her the strength to gather the fractured pieces of her “splintered self” and eventually, to apply her personal experience to her studies in advanced psychology. She now believes, “An important question in psychiatry shouldn’t be, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ but rather, ‘What happened to you?’”

Aside from being a survivor of a harrowing battle with what was diagnosed as schizophrenia, Longden is now part of Intervoice, which she describes as seeking to establish “voice hearing as a creative and ingenious survival strategy; a sane reaction to insane circumstances—not as an abstract symptom of illness to be endured, but as a complex, significant, and meaningful experience to be explored.”

Stories to Tell: The Significance of Hearing Voices

In 1997, a meeting of mental health professionals and voice hearers in Maastricht, one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, led to the creation of Intervoice. The earlier hearing voices groups that paved the way for Intervoice to become what it is today were inspired in the late 1980s by the work of Marius Romme, MD, PhD, and Sandra Escher, PhD, at the University of Maastricht.

Originally, according to the Intervoice website (www.intervoiceonline.org), Dr. Romme did not believe that his clients who reported hearing voices were actually hearing them. Like many psychiatrists, “[H]e had always dismissed voices as being part of the delusional and hallucinatory world of the psychiatrically ill.”

Now, however, Romme states in his personal message to those who visit the Intervoice site, “There are many fears and misunderstandings in society and within psychiatry about hearing voices. They are generally regarded as a symptom of illness, something that is negative, to be got rid of and consequently the content and meaning of the voice experience is rarely discussed.”

This is an important point to consider, seeing as the most common mode of treatment for people diagnosed with schizophrenia is psychotropic medication. In fact, a recent GfK study revealed that 45%, nearly half, of those handed prescriptions to cope with their voices and visions do not follow their doctors’ drug orders. For the past 17 years, GfK researchers in the field of psychiatry have conducted this study, and the rate of noncompliance has ranged from 41% to 46% since 2009.

The most common reasons for noncompliance cited by prescribing psychiatrists are “dislike of medication, concern about side effects, and denial of illness.” The unpleasant side effects reported by 71% of psychiatrists in the 2013 study were drowsiness, weight gain, and extra-pyramidal symptoms (EPS) such as tremors, stiffness, and severe restlessness (Stanton 2013). The primary assumption on the part of researchers and psychiatrists is that there must be something wrong with the medications. But it’s possible that the people who refuse to take these pills or who do not take them as directed are onto something with their “denial of illness.”

In light of the movement to raise awareness about voices, visions, and extra sensory perceptions as a globally shared aspect of the human experience, one has to wonder whether the core issue is more likely to be overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis—potentialities that have stirred much discourse and debate, particularly with regard to African-Americans (De Coux Hampton 2007; Helwick 2012; Vedantam 2005).

In Eleanor Longden’s experience, psychiatric care left her feeling hopelessly flawed and ultimately defeated. True healing came when she realized, with the help of professional counselors and loved ones, that each of the voices she was hearing represented a piece of her fractured psyche, and each fragment had a story to tell. Acknowledging these stories, she says, was essential to her recovery—and she is not alone in this conclusion.

According to research conducted by Romme and Escher with over 300 voice hearers, “70% of people who hear voices can point to a traumatic life event that triggered their voices,” and “talking about voices and what they mean is a very effective way to reduce anxiety and isolation; even when the voices are overwhelming and seemingly destructive, they often have an important message for the hearer.” Of course, it is important to go through the process of listening to voices under the guidance of a licensed professional. Especially in the early stages, it may be difficult to decipher their true meaning without help.

An International Movement to Manifest Change

To spark further conversation and exploration, Intervoice, Voices Vic, and Hearing Voices Network Australia are organizing this year’s World Hearing Voices Congress (www.hearingvoices2013.org), an annual gathering of voice hearers, mental health professionals, students, researchers, and anyone else who wishes to deepen their understanding of what it means to hear voices. The 2013 event, “Hearing Voices: Journeys to Understanding,” is being held from November 20 to 22 in Melbourne, Australia.

Additionally, on their “National Networks” page, Intervoice provides listings of hearing voices communities in 22 countries across the globe. The few options listed in the United States are in Denver, Colorado; Holyoke, Massachusetts; and Portland, Oregon. However, the Hearing Voices Network USA (www.hearingvoicesusa.org), based in Madison, Wisconsin, also provides a search tool for U.S. groups, and reveals additional hearing voices support groups in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Thanks to groups such as these, those who do not wish to accept the widely held notion that they are “disordered” or “mentally ill” because of their voices, visions, and extra sensory perceptions can find kinship with people all over the world. And the more individuals like Eleanor Longden who stand up and share their stories, the more likely the possibility is for real change in the mental health field regarding this fascinating facet of the human experience.

References:

1. DeCoux Hampton, M. (2007, December). The role of treatment setting and high acuity in the overdiagnosis of schizophrenia in African Americans. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, Vol. 21, Issue 6. 327-335.
2. Helwick, C. (2012, July 31). Schizophrenia may be overdiagnosed in black patients. Medscape Medical News. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/768391
3. Longden, Eleanor. (2012, July 5). Learning from the voices in my head. TED TalentSearch . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZHOSxN5cE
4. Romme, M. Welcome message from Prof Marius Romme. Intervoice: The International Hearing Voices Network. Retrieved from http://www.intervoiceonline.org/about-intervoice/welcome-message-from-prof-marius-romme
5. Stanton, D. (2013, October 14). New GFK study finds 45% of schizophrenia patients do not comply with doctors’ prescribing instructions [GfK Press Release]. Retrieved from http://www.gfk.com/us/news-and-events/press-room/press-releases/pages/new-gfk-study-finds-45-of-schizophrenia-patients-do-not-comply-with-doctors-prescribing-instructions-.aspx
6. Vedantam, S. (2005, June 28). Racial disparities found in pinpointing mental illness. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701496.html

Major depression (MDD) is known to affect numerous cognitive and behavioral domains. People with MDD often have pessimistic attitudes about future events and guilt over past events. They tend to isolate and withdraw, and choose to engage in activities that provide immediate reward over those that promise future enjoyment. This leads to impulsive and even risky behavior, like overeating and substance misuse.

Posttraumatic stress is an anxiety condition that has some similarities to MDD, but is unique in that risk/reward choices tend to be quite different. Understanding how people with MDD, PTSD, and MDD+PTSD value risks over rewards is an important area of clinical research and can provide insight into the behavioral and cognitive processes that take place in people with these mental health problems.

To get a closer look at the differences in decision making that occurs in these conditions, Jan B. Engelmann of the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland recently conducted risk/reward decision making experiments on 20 individuals. All had either MDD or MDD+PTSD. Engelmann compared their choices to those of 16 control (HC) participants.

The results showed that both MDD groups discounted long term rewards compared to controls. For gains, both MDD groups selected immediate versus long-term gains more than controls. However, when Engelmann looked at the subgroups of MDD participants, the findings revealed significant differences. The MDD only group demonstrated a preference for taking larger losses in the long term if it meant decreasing immediate losses. This was in contrast to the HC and MDD+PTSD groups, who chose smaller immediate losses over larger losses in the future.

Engelmann believes this difference in the MDD and MDD+PTSD group is due to anxiety. The PTSD group may be more willing to accept minimal losses today if it means avoiding larger losses later. This avoidant behavior is a symptom of anxiety and in the case of risk/reward may actually benefit individuals with respect to decision making.

For people with MDD+PTSD, although anxiety may decrease antidepressant efficacy, this negative consequence may be offset by the positive effect anxious symptoms appear to have on risk/reward processing. “Together,” added Engelmann, “These results inform future research investigating the underlying affective and cognitive processes, as well as related neural mechanisms, of the observed choice distortions in patients with MDD.”

Reference:
Engelmann, J.B., Maciuba, B., Vaughan, C., Paulus, M.P., Dunlop, B.W. (2013). Posttraumatic stress disorder increases sensitivity to long term losses among patients with major depressive disorder. PLoS ONE 8(10): e78292. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078292

If you’ve ever seen A Christmas Story, then you probably remember the words of the yellow-eyed, redheaded Scut Farkus as he taunts and tortures 9-year-old Ralphie Parker: “Come on, cry baby, cry!” As Farkus jeers with a maniacal laugh and violence flashing in his eyes, Ralphie finally snaps and fights back, pummeling his bully into the snowy earth.

While it is understandable to feel a sense of satisfaction watching someone overtake a bully and feel vindicated in a classic film scenario, this scene in A Christmas Story, as Ralphie’s mother insists, is not the ideal for those fighting to raise awareness and effect societal change where bullying is concerned.

Bullying of both a physical and psychological nature are realities many youth face on a day-to-day basis. StopBullying.gov states that for a behavior to be considered bullying, it “must be aggressive” and include “an imbalance of power” and “repetition” or the potential to become repetitive. Bullying may manifest as physical violence and abuse against those perceived as weak or different; it may also appear in the form of words and phrases used to hurt those same individuals. It happens in schools, homes, and the community at large, and is primarily associated with youth who are 18 and younger.

National Bullying Prevention Month, which was initiated in 2006 by PACER’s National Center for Bullying Prevention, encourages supporters and advocates to stand up and say, “The end of bullying begins with me.” Whether as a perpetrator, as a bystander, or as someone who has experienced bullying, everyone can play a part in putting a stop to the damaging effects of bullying.

Unity and Respect: Valuable Bullying Prevention Lessons

A variety of campaigns and opportunities to stand united with the movement to prevent bullying are accessible online. StopBullying.gov provides the public with resources and educational materials pertaining to bullying, and at StompOutBullying.org, those who wish to show their support can purchase wristbands, as well as access information on what’s been happening when and where regarding bullying prevention awareness.

The Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights website (PACER.org) is also an excellent resource. In addition to informational links and materials, the site encourages concerned citizens to sign their “The End of Bullying Begins with Me” petition. And perhaps most useful with regard to practical, long-term application and prevention is PACER’s free, online, student-focused curriculum launched on October 1, 2013, called “The We Will Generation.”

Designed with student leaders in mind, the hope is that under the guidance and mentorship of adult advisors, these young people will carry the message of bullying prevention to other middle and high school students in an ongoing, interactive educational format. Schools can sign up online to pilot the new curriculum, which includes a series of lessons, activities, a student-created video, student advice, and other resources for how to approach bullying in the school system from a student-to-student perspective.

The lessons cover topics like “Respecting differences and everyone’s right to be who they are,” “Ways in which students can reach out to their peers,” “Sharing ideas about how students can show that everyone matters,” and “How to move a situation from a negative into a positive.” The overall messages of The We Will Generation, which focuses its foundational teachings on the acceptance and appreciation of individuality, are to respect differences, unite together, and take action.

Growing Concern over Cyberbullying

An increasing trend in the rapidly advancing technological world is cyberbullying, also known as e-bullying, online bullying, and Internet bullying. The Cyberbullying Research Center defines cyberbullying as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.”

Stopbullying.gov adds that the electronic technology used in cyberbullying includes “social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.” Rumors, embarrassing photos, and fake online profiles are just a few examples of the tactics used in cyberbullying.

As with other forms of bullying, StopBulling.gov reports that victims of cyberbullying are more likely to abuse substances, skip classes or refrain from attending school altogether, receive poor grades, have self-esteem issues, develop health problems, and experience in-person bullying.

Both the Cyberbullying Research Center and StopBulling.gov offer helpful information on how to identify, prevent, and report cyberbullying as a parent, educator, counselor, peer, or youth worker. IBM is also currently offering a free downloadable activity kit for those who wish to present, teach, or somehow train others to recognize, prevent, and intervene in cases of cyberbullying. Resources like these are important in tackling the complex issue of cyberbullying, which is the subject of much media attention and discourse these days.

A Little Empathy, Please

There are a range of explanations as to why someone may end up physically or verbally attacking and putting down his or her peers, but one thing is agreed upon by researchers: Children and teenagers who bully others exhibit “a lack of appropriate concern for the other, commonly considered a lack of affective empathic concern” (Borgwald & Theixos, 2013).

Various efforts have been launched over the years in an attempt to eradicate bullying behaviors and rehabilitate those who engage in it. Some are more effective than others. In a recent article published in Social Influence, the authors argue that the federally instituted “zero-tolerance policies,” which involve systematic punishments and expulsions to deal with bullying are “ineffective, counterproductive, and unjust” (Borgwald & Theixos, 2013). They instead suggest the implementation of “inclusion and empathy training” as an effective approach for integrating those identified as bullies in the school system and community at large.

This approach is largely inspired by the notion that there is danger in automatically assuming that a child who bullies is somehow flawed or lacking. As Borgwald and Theixos point out, “[B]ullying is a complex behavior closely linked to an abusive/chaotic home life, and . . . we are concerned that bully-labeling further hinders these children from adequately developing pro-social behaviors” (2013). Hence the significance of empathy, which theories on the subject suggest “can be nurtured through counseling, teaching, and modeling.”

Empathy is defined by Merriam-Webster as,

the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experiences fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.

In other words, someone exhibiting empathy will feel the pain of another without being overtly told what that other person is feeling. It follows that if a child or adolescent is starting off with little to no sensitivity or concern for the feelings of others, then teaching him or her to experience actual empathy is going to require massive amounts of time, effort, and energy on the part of the student doing the bullying as well as the teachers, therapists, and parents or guardians trying to help that person. Regardless, Borgwald and Theixos assert, “If a lack of empathy is central to the problem of bullying, and empathy can be taught and learned, then empathy training in schools is a better (more just, more inclusive, and likely more beneficial) response to bullying” (2013).

A little kindness can go a long way. And it would appear that developing a sense of compassion and understanding for the perpetrators of bullying is just as important as it is for those who have been bullied. Considering the human capacity for change and transformation, perhaps it is possible that if someone notorious for being a bully is given the opportunity to acknowledge, feel, and accept his or her own sensitivity and weakness, then an improved sensitivity toward others will naturally follow.

References:

1. Borgwald, K., and Theixos, H. (2013). “Bullying the bully: Why zero-tolerance policies get a failing grade.” Social Influence, 8: 2–3, 149–160. doi: 10.1080/15534510.2012.724030.  Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15534510.2012.724030
2. Cyberbullying Research Center. “About us.” Retrieved from http://cyberbullying.us/about-us/
3. IBM. “Cyber-bullying. Explore the dangers and signs of cyber-bullying with parents and teachers.” Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/initiatives/activitykits/cyber_bullying/
4. Merriam-Webster.com. (2013). Empathy. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy
5. PACER. “October is National Bullying Prevention Month.” Retrieved from http://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm/
6. PACER. “The We Will Generation: Students leading the bullying prevention movement.” Retrieved from http://www.pacer.org/bullying/wewillgen/curriculum/
7. StopBullying.gov. “What is bullying.” Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/index.html#types
8. StopBullying.gov. “What is cyberbullying.” Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html

Recently I watched a YouTube video of comedian Louis CK being interviewed by Conan O’Brien in which he was discussing his reasons for not allowing his kids have cell phones. It was really funny but also quite profound. He talked about how cell phones (and other gadgets) prevent us from feeling sadness. He described an experience he had while driving down the road listening to the radio. He said a song came on that reminded him of his past and made him sad. He noticed the urge to pick up his phone and text his friends in an effort to derail the emotion. Instead, he decided to let the emotion come. He said he pulled over on the side of the road and cried, then felt a surge of happiness afterward, which he explained as gratitude for his ability to feel. He pointed out how when we cut off our ability to feel sad, we cut off our ability to feel happy, too. We coast along in an emotionally dulled state, not feeling too much of anything.

How often we distract ourselves with technology, eating, substances, sex, shopping—and the list goes on—when we feel a pang of sadness heading toward us. It’s understandable; sadness doesn’t feel especially good. But there is a price to avoiding it. When we don’t allow ourselves to feel sad, we stunt the intensity of our other emotions (including joy and happiness) as well. It’s impossible to selectively repress an emotion, so when we limit one, we limit them all. Also, by dodging sadness, we may lose confidence in our ability to handle difficulty. We may start to think sadness is too much for us to deal with, and facing it becomes an overwhelming proposition. However, when we allow ourselves to move toward difficult emotions, we are reminded that we can handle it, and that it usually isn’t as bad as we expected. In my experience as a chronic sadness avoider, I find that when I move toward the emotion instead of running as fast as I can away from it, I’m often surprised by how quickly the sadness comes and goes. I’m reminded that emotions are like waves; they start small, build, crest, then begin to subside. Of course, some waves are bigger than others and go on for longer, and they may return over and over again; but they are usually less difficult to navigate than I expected.

I’ve also come to believe that by avoiding sadness, we stunt our ability to connect with others. In times of profound sadness, I’m reminded of the commonalities of the human experience. It is something we feel physically in a similar way. The throat feels restricted and sometimes painful; there is a pressured feeling in the chest; an empty feeling in the stomach; sometimes we cry. By allowing myself to experience sadness, I’m able to feel more compassion for others. From this compassion comes a sense of gratitude and equanimity. When we move through life emotionally numbed out, we are likely to feel disconnected and alone. Western culture makes it really hard not to avoid emotions. There are so many enticing distractions immediately available and pushed on us every day. Attending to emotion is definitely moving against the cultural current.

[fat_widget_left]Finally, by allowing ourselves to fully experience all of our emotions, we have the opportunity to connect with inner wisdom that informs us about who we are and what we need. For example, recently a client in my practice felt a wave of sadness and allowed herself to explore it in the session. Through this process, she identified her feelings of loss around a disappointing relationship with a parent. As she sat with this emotion and allowed it to run its full course, she uncovered a need to accept this reality—that her parent couldn’t and would never be the ideal parent she had always wanted. Even though this was a tough realization, it allowed her to move forward exploring ways she could parent herself as an adult rather than being paralyzed by a desire for what was not possible.

As an experiment, consider intentionally focusing on your emotional “waves” for a few days. See if you can identify your urge to avoid or distract (whether you choose to distract or not), and if a good moment presents itself, spend some time sitting with it, observing what it is like for you to feel this and reflecting on what information or insights you glean from it. You may benefit from journaling about these experiences as well.

Practically speaking, most of us won’t be able to be mindful of every emotion that comes our way. The realities of our lives interfere with that. Maybe we feel a wave of sadness coming during the middle of a business meeting or in a conversation with our boss when it would be to our detriment to allow the feeling to take hold. Also, emotions are always present and quickly shift and change, so to be constantly mindful would be a full-time job. There are as many ways of practicing emotional mindfulness as there are people, but I can tell you how I do it. When I notice a particularly strong emotion present at a time when it isn’t in my best interests to fully allow it, I make some time later to recall the incident that triggered it and allow the emotion to come forward again. Though it isn’t “in the moment,” I’m often able to recreate it in a context that works better for me. Also, at times when I start to feel sad and there is an opportunity to allow the feeling, I create some space for it by minimizing distractions and choosing not to pick up my cell phone or look up something random on the Internet (my frequent go-to escapes). I also work on not judging myself harshly when I avoid emotions; after all, I am human, and humans by nature don’t like to feel pain.

We are familiar with the grief associated with death. Denial, anger, and acceptance are part of the grieving process as it pertains to death. But what about grief that is unconnected to death? What about the loss and grief that occurs with expected and even happy events?

A few years ago, at a friend’s wedding, I was surprised to find her mother sobbing in the restroom. She was happy for her daughter and liked her son-in-law, but she was pained by the loss of her daughter. She was grieving the transition of her relationship with her daughter, who was no longer fully hers. Her daughter’s primary relationship was now the one she shared with her new husband. While her mother did celebrate and have joy for her daughter, she also had sorrow and grief for her own loss and transition. But she had no place to put her grief.

Marriage and partnerships, moving, new jobs, and graduations are often joyous occasions that we readily share and celebrate with others. We have traditions associated with these transitions in life. There are weddings and housewarming parties and happy hours organized to commemorate these events. But there aren’t any traditions or processes to acknowledge and assist with the natural grief and loss that comes along with these occasions and transitions.

As it does following the death of a loved one, grief during joyous occasions impacts all aspects of your life and of you. As a society, we have great traditions and markers of change, but we do not have ways to encourage and support people after the actual transition. What happens after the wedding ceremony or six months into the new job? What do you do with your sadness and grief about what you have lost even while you are happy or satisfied with what you have?

First, acknowledge the complexity of the situation. Identify the bittersweet emotions of enjoying your new job while simultaneously missing your old one. Grief is not solely comprised of pain. For example, even during the most tragic deaths there can be moments of joy and laughter during the funeral service. This speaks to the varied emotions associated with grief, the mix of pain with moments of pleasures.

Also, remember that grief is fluid and changes with time. The way you feel at the beginning point of change is different than in the following month, in six months, or years later. Your feelings of sadness, pain, fear, and loss transform and become less gripping and more integrated into you and your life. The grief and feelings of loss can recede over time.

One of the ways people get stuck in their grief—meaning it is unchanged and unmoving—is when they have no place to express it. Silent grief makes the process of grieving much worse. Being able to talk about the grief not only eases the pain but moves the process forward. Talking about and sharing the grief makes it possible to be sad but not stagnant.

Whenever you are in the midst of change and transition, consider what you are losing as well as what you are gaining. This is not to focus on the unpleasant or negative aspects of change, but rather to be more prepared when the inevitable feelings of loss and grief rise for you.

How do you navigate the intersection and bitter sweetness of joy and grief? How do you celebrate the newness while also recognizing and honoring what passed?

A colleague of mine encourages people to consider the first day of every month a “New Year’s Day” of sorts: Instead of one New Year’s resolution, why not mindfully attempt change every month? Imagine what you can do for yourself in only a year.

While popular wisdom has long suggested that habits can be formed in about 30 days, recent research reveals the process is more nuanced, with habit formation typically taking 18 to 254 days, with an average of 66 days. However, the beauty of a 30-day challenge isn’t just about permanent habit formation—it’s about creating momentum, building awareness, and experiencing positive changes that can motivate longer-term growth.

Having challenged myself to new habits 30 days at a time in 2013, I’m challenging you to begin your own changes today.

Accept this invitation to tackle a 30-day challenge to enrich intimacy in your relationship. Start now—don’t wait until the first of the month. Consider which habit(s) would benefit you and your relationship to enrich or enhance intimacy. I’ve drawn up a possible list, pulled from research as well as my professional and personal experience, to help inspire ideas:

Within 30 days, read a book to improve your relationship—people who seek relationship counseling with me are encouraged to read Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson. This groundbreaking book on Emotionally Focused Therapy has sold over 1 million copies and continues to help couples strengthen their relationships through evidence-based approaches. Another favorite is The Truth About Love by Dr. Pat Love, which explores the predictable stages of love relationships.

Commit to kissing hello and goodbye. In a fast-paced culture, romantic partners are often like “two ships passing in the night.” We miss simple, everyday opportunities to slow down and reconnect with loved ones. For the next 30 days, make a new rule in your relationship: kiss hello and goodbye—no exceptions! (Already doing this? OK, try this one. Make each kiss last at least five seconds; trust me, it’ll feel longer and more intimate than you assume. Imagine your lips on your loved one’s lips, cheek, or neck for the count of one … two … three … four … five. Now THAT’s a kiss.)

Add the “hug to relax” or “five-minute hug” to your day, every day, for 30 days. Recent research confirms that couples with higher comfort levels around physical affection report significantly better relationship well-being, with private touch being particularly important for relationship satisfaction. Set a time, and in a standing hug enjoy the waves of experiences you have in your partner’s arms. Notice what each of your five senses is sensing. Notice the smell of your partner’s neck, shirt, hair, etc. What do you hear in the hug? A heartbeat, breathing, or sounds of the environment? Notice the touch of your bodies: Where do you touch? Where do you not touch? Notice the sensation of standing on your feet for a period of time in one place.

Reduce your complaints and increase praise of your partner for the next 30 days. Dr. John Gottman’s extensive research has identified a “magic ratio” of 5:1—for every negative interaction during conflict, happy couples have five or more positive interactions. As with good parenting, we need to balance negative feedback and interaction (“Go do your homework!”) with positive feedback and interaction (“Thanks for getting to your chores!”) in our intimate relationships. I often explain to people that we are born to particular caregivers, but when we mature into adults and commit to a relationship, we choose and become “chosen caregivers.” It’s essential that we remember that our spouses are sometimes just “tall kiddos” who need and desire more praise than complaints.

Last but not least, consider sexual, engaged activity every day for 30 days. Now, this doesn’t have to mean intercourse, orgasm, or even nakedness, the goal is to foster closeness, affection, and mutual comfort. There is an array of activities we can indulge in to ignite and nourish our sexual selves. Recent research highlights the strong connection between active, satisfying intimacy and overall relationship wellbeing, with studies showing that couples who engage in regular intimate connection report higher relationship satisfaction. Body rubs, hand massaging, bathing together, undressing your partner, spooning, masturbating solo or beside each other—these are just a few ideas for a 30-day challenge.

This exercise works best for couples who are feeling generally good in their relationship. If you or your partner are navigating sexual pain, past trauma, postpartum changes, big differences in desire, or other challenges, take it slow, and don’t hesitate to check in with a sex therapist before diving in.

Bonus idea straight from a sex therapist’s office: One of my clients’ favorite ideas for being sexual that doesn’t require much of anything is a “walk down memory lane.” This approach draws on the therapeutic power of reminiscence, which research shows can create positive emotional connections and enhance wellbeing. Reminisce together about the hottest sex you’ve had together, fire up your memory by indulging in a description of what your senses experienced, maybe even come up with a title for this memory as if it were its own sexy movie. Perhaps take the memory a little further by embellishing, elaborating, or peppering some components of fantasy by sprinkling in spicy details you would add if you could go back in time.

The “walk down memory lane” exercise is most enjoyable when your shared sexual history feels positive and consensual. If you and your partner have experienced trauma, coercion, or infidelity, revisiting sexual memories might feel upsetting instead of connecting. In that case, it’s perfectly okay to skip this one, or try it with guidance from a therapist.

Find a Therapist

This isn’t necessarily a go-big-or-go-home challenge, mind you. Take on something you can be successful doing. The goal is to form a new habit, enrich intimacy, and add pleasure to your relationship.

Enjoy!

References:

1. Singh, B., Murphy, A., Maher, C., & Smith, A. E. (2024). Time to form a habit: A systematic review and meta-analysis of health behaviour habit formation and its determinants. Healthcare, 12(23), 2488. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12232488
2. Healthline. (2025, October 16). Habit formation: How long it takes and how to start now. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-form-a-habit
3. Psychology Today. (2026, January). One powerful habit that couples should never underestimate. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-instincts/202601/one-powerful-habit-that-couples-should-never-underestimate
4. Johnson, S. (2008). Hold me tight: Seven conversations for a lifetime of love. Little, Brown and Company.
5. International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. (2024). Dr Johnson books. ICEEFT. https://iceeft.com/dr-johnson-books-2/
6. Gottman Institute. (2017). The magic relationship ratio, according to science. The Gottman Institute. https://www.gottman.com/blog/the-magic-relationship-ratio-according-science/
7. Psychology Today. (2022). The Gottman ratio for happy relationships at work. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/curating-your-life/202206/the-gottman-ratio-happy-relationships-work
8. Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2023). Relationships and sexual activity: Trends in Australia. https://aifs.gov.au/research/reports/relationships-and-sexual-activity-trends
9. Positive Psychology. (2025). Reminiscence therapy vs. life review therapy: A quick guide. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/reminiscence-therapy-life-review-therapy/

The personality traits of neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness, known as the “big five,” have been studied at length in relation to nearly every psychological condition. Several of the big five traits have been linked to suicide, but only in the presence of other comorbid conditions or only when viewed through a limited lens.

To get a more comprehensive picture of how these personality traits affect the risk of suicide in the general population, Victor Bluml of the Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria recently conducted a study involving community participants. Bluml assessed 2,555 adults for measures of past, present, and potential suicidality as well as for the big five. He controlled for other risk factors such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and socioeconomic status.

The results revealed that specific big five traits influenced risk for suicide for men differently than for women. For women, Bluml discovered that high levels of openness and neuroticism increased suicide risk. For men, low levels of conscientiousness and extraversion elevated the risk of suicide.

Bluml believes that neuroticism, which is a risk factor for depression, could increase depressive symptoms in women, making them more vulnerable to maladaptive coping and impulsivity. This could explain the link between neuroticism and suicidality in women. However, women are more likely to have nonfatal suicide attempts than men.

When Bluml looked at the big five scores for the male participants, he found that there was no direct association between openness or neuroticism and suicide. But extraversion, which is associated with positive affect, was found to be linked to suicide risk when scores were low. Likewise, low scores on conscientiousness, which directly impacts hopefulness, were also shown to be predictive of suicidality for males. Bluml also found that these trends persisted even when other factors such as anxiety, unemployment and stress were considered.

These results clearly show how specific personality factors impact suicide uniquely for each gender. Bluml also added, “Different personality dimensions are significantly associated with suicide-related behaviors even when adjusting for other known risk factors of suicidality.”

Reference:
Blüml, V., Kapusta, N.D., Doering, S., Brähler, E., Wagner, B., et al. (2013). Personality factors and suicide risk in a representative sample of the German general population. PLoS ONE 8(10): e76646. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0076646