Autobiographical Memory-Based Intervention for Suicidality
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Autobiographical Memory-Based Intervention for Suicidality: A Case Series
IRAS ID
316697
Contact name
James Kelly
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The project involves a short therapy intervention for people who are experiencing thoughts of suicide. The intervention will focus upon different memories from the person’s life. These memories will vary in the emotions they evoke – some memories will be associated with neutral emotions, whereas others will bring up positive emotions. The intervention will have a particular focus upon people’s memories of times when they moved away from thinking about suicide, with the aim of reinforcing memories of what helped them to reconnect with life. The intervention will also introduce relaxation techniques, in addition to involving a safety planning component. The project aims to consider whether this intervention is acceptable and feasible for this population.
Summary of Results
Public involvement played a crucial role in shaping this study. Two experts by experience with a history of suicidality were consulted about the supporting documents and intervention structure. Consequently, we embedded more flexibility around session timings, and increased the use of visual resources.
The research took place in secondary care mental health services and was necessary because there are so few interventions designed to prevent suicide that have a strong evidence base. We designed an intervention that focussed on savouring mental images or memories of positive events and specifically, memories of times people recovered from feeling suicidal in the past.
The main questions we sought to answer were is this intervention 1) acceptable and 2) feasible to people with thoughts of suicide within secondary care mental health services? Our secondary research question was: Do people’s levels of suicidality, and risk factors such as feeling trapped, change during the intervention?
Three participants with experiences of suicidal ideation and/or attempt(s) within the past 3 months were recruited from community-based mental health teams. We varied the amount of times we assessed people before offering the intervention so we could better see the impact of the intervention on people’s levels of suicidality.
The findings indicated a high level of completion (100%) with high attendance rates (93.10% of sessions offered). Participants engaged well and rated the intervention ‘acceptable’. Overall, improvements were observed on clinical measures, with marked improvements for one participant.
In conclusion, the intervention appeared acceptable and feasible for this population, although the small sample size limits conclusions. A larger study is indicated, to explore these findings further.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0211
Date of REC Opinion
30 Oct 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion