Factors that contribute to suicidal distress

What is distress?

The American Psychological Association Dictionary of Psychology defines ‘distress’ as ‘non-specific symptoms of stress and concerns that affect someone’s thoughts and emotions.’ More specifically, ‘psychological distress’ has been explained as ‘when someone has deeply unpleasant feelings, symptoms or experiences, which may or may not be due to mental illness’.¹

People with lived experience of distress and mental health concerns provided insights that are included in the report by the University of New England and Everymind, Curiosity, Compassion and Care: Designing and delivering community-based supports drawing on people’s lived experience of distress and mental ill-health in Australia.² This report draws on the firsthand experience of 3,400 Australians who described distress as intense physical and emotional experiences that often emerged in response to persistent stress or coincided with key life transitions’. They also described their experiences of distress being seen as ‘less serious' by the broader community and the service system, and highlighted the negative impact this can have on individuals seeking support and accessing services.²

The relationship between distress and suicide

The relationship between distress and suicide is complex and often it is a combination of factors, rather than one key factor, that lead to suicidal distress for an individual. Suicidal distress can emerge as a response to the interaction between social determinants and individual factors within someone’s life. Social determinants can include factors such as income, education, social inclusion, access to housing and healthcare, and early childhood development. Individual factors can include mental illness, trauma, drug and alcohol use, stressful life events, personality factors and demographics. People who attempt suicide or die by suicide often experience significant situational stressors and adverse life events that may lead them to become disconnected from their networks and supports.³

Suicide prevention approaches must focus on responding to distress as early as possible, during the emergence of distress and early in the trajectory towards suicidal behaviour, instead of at the point of crisis. These approaches must also address socio-economic factors within a person’s life as a significant contributory factor in suicidal distress.

Factors that contribute to suicidal distress

The evidence outlines many potential factors that contribute to self-harm and suicide. Some factors may have a more severe impact on individuals with other factors having a less severe impact, but they may be more prevalent in the population.³ Suicide prevention approaches need to address all factors that contribute to distress, with the aim to reduce the impact, prevalence and severity of known contributing factors to reduce the likelihood of suicidal distress arising.

The evidence highlights examples of factors that contribute to self-harm and suicidal distress including (but not limited to):

• socio-economic inequality
• mental illness
• physical illness
• relationship breakdown
• unemployment
• workplace distress
• financial distress
• isolation and loneliness
• alcohol and other drug concerns
• adverse experiences and trauma in childhood
• discrimination, stigma and inequity
• life transitions; and
• loss of social roles.