People who made serious suicide attempts make inconsistent rather than impulsive choices.

What is it about?

Why do some people and not others make the decision to take their lives? The choice of suicide over alternatives is often seen as a manifestation of impulsivity. However, recent research suggests that suicide can be a decision accident and that people vulnerable to suicide tend to make inconsistent, disadvantageous choices. In this large study, people who had made serious suicide attempts had to choose between smaller immediate and larger delayed payoffs. While they did not show an increased preference for immediate payoffs, their choices were less consistent, compared to healthy people and even those with depression and suicidal thoughts. These results support the view of suicide as a decision accident and the notion that people who have difficulty making decisions are more vulnerable to suicide.

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Why is it important?

Suicide can be very difficult to predict, and we need a better understanding of how people go from thinking of suicide to acting on those thoughts.