| Abstract [eng] |
Suicide rates in Lithuania have decreased by half in the last decade. However, they are still high, indicating that suicide remains a pressing problem. Although research on the specifics of suicide in Lithuania is gaining momentum, there is still a lack of understanding about the role of psychache in the process of suicide. In the present study, an inductive thematic analysis was used to explore the specifics of the development of psychache in suicide attempters during the suicide process. The sample consisted of 5 participants (5 women; M = 24.4 years; SD = 4.16). Based on the analysis of the results, 5 themes were identified: "Early traumatic childhood experiences as a basis for the development of psychache", "Relationship difficulties exacerbate psychache", "Psychache is influenced by external stressors", " Inner experiences triggered by events that cause psychache", "Violent behaviour and suicide attempts as a way to reduce psychache". The study aimed to provide an overall picture of the development of psychache in the suicide process, to examine what experiences lead to internal distress and how it is experienced by the person, so the individual themes of this study should be interpreted with caution. Based on the results of the study and the literature review, the main presumptions highlight the importance of early traumatic experiences and difficulties in interpersonal relationships for the development of psychache due to unmet psychological needs. Self-harm is used to reduce psychache by replacing it with physical pain, whereas suicide attempts occur when psychache becomes unbearable, and suicide seems to be the only way to end it. |
