The Closeness to Others and Suicidal Experiences (CLOSE) Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the role of emotion regulation and reflective functioning in the relationship between attachment security and suicidality.
IRAS ID
220309
Contact name
Holly Turton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
Some people think about killing themselves (suicide) or attempt suicide. There are lots of different ideas about why this happens. We want to find out more about why people think about suicide so that we can help people get the right support.
Some researchers have found that we might think about suicide if we had difficult relationships with carers when we were growing up (attachment). Our research aims to explore the way we relate to those we are close to (attachment styles) and to find out if this is linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviour. In this study we also want to look at some of the reasons that attachment styles and suicide might be related.
To help us look into this, we will be asking people who use mental health services and have thought about suicide to take part in our study. We will ask people to complete a questionnaire about suicidal thoughts and behaviour and a questionnaire about experiences of close relationships (attachment styles).
We will also be asking people to complete questionnaires relating to managing emotions, their ability to reflect on themselves, depression, trauma and hopelessness; to explore whether any of these factors influence the link between suicide and attachment styles.We expect that people who experience difficulties in close relationships might have more suicidal thoughts or behaviours. We think that this could be explained by the way people manage their emotions and their ability to reflect on themselves.
We hope that this study will give services ideas about how they could help people who are thinking about suicide.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0194
Date of REC Opinion
20 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion