PERCEIVED BURDENSOMENESS AND THWARTED BELONGING: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE INTERPERSONAL THEORY OF SUICIDE

Objective: Joiner's interpersonal theory of suicide proposes that two risk factors are present in those who die by suicide - perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belonging. A previous study examined the presence of these risk factors in a large sample of Australian suicide notes (Gunn & Lester 2012), and the present study investigated the presence of both perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belonging in several samples of suicide notes. Eleven samples of suicide notes, totaling 664 notes, were read and rated by both authors for the presence of thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness, eight of which have not been rated for the presence of these two variables before. Method: The criteria used were the same as used by Gunn and Lester (2012). The results indicated that thwarted belonging was present in the content of the notes more often than perceived burdensomeness (medians 42.5% versus 15.5%) and that both were rarely present in the same note (9.5%). There were no consistent differences by age and sex in the presence of these themes. Results: The results indicated that perceived burdensomeness is rarely evident in suicide notes, whereas thwarted belonging is more common in suicide notes. Conclusions: However, the majority of suicide notes did not contain evidence of these themes and, therefore, failed to confirm Joiner's theory.