Implicit bias for suicide persists after ideation resolves

• Published in: Psychiatry research 2020-03, Vol.285, p.112784-112784, Article 112784
• Main Authors: Wells, Tony T., Tucker, Raymond P., Kraines, Morganne A., Smith, Logan M., Unruh-Dawes, Emma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affect misattribution; Cognitive bias; Suicide ideation
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112784

•Compared suicide implicit bias between history of suicide ideation (SI) vs. none.•History of SI group demonstrated increased implicit bias for suicide.•This bias was specific to the suicide-relevant stimuli.•Results indicate that implicit bias for suicide continues after resolution of SI.•Implications for use of implicit bias for suicide screening is discussed. Individuals with suicidal ideation (SI), demonstrate an association between suicide-related information and the self that is automatic and outside conscious control (i.e., implicit). However, it is unclear whether this implicit bias is a state-like processes that will resolve with the reduction of SI or whether it is more trait-like and enduring. Given that implicit bias has been proposed as an indirect measurement of SI, understanding its dynamic nature is important. To investigate this, we recruited 79 (22 with a history of, but no current, SI; 57 with no lifetime history of SI) young adults who completed a structured interview assessing current and past SI. Participants also completed the Suicide Affect Misattribution Procedure assessing implicit association with suicide-relevant, negative but not suicide relevant, positive, and neutral stimuli. Participants with a history of SI demonstrated greater implicit bias for suicide compared to participants with no lifetime history, but did not significantly differ in their responses to negative, positive, or neutral stimuli. This indicates that suicide-relevant implicit bias may be a trait-like process that endures after resolution of SI. This has important implications for the conceptualization of cognitive bias in suicide and the use of these biases as implicit markers of SI.