Dr Rob Dempsey blogs on Mental Health Awareness Week and some ongoing research into the role of psychosocial factors in the experience of suicidality in people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

This week marks the Mental Health Foundation’s “Mental Health Awareness Week” – an annual event which aims to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing. It is estimated that around 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience some form of mental health issues and there is increasing recognition of the need for increased funding and resources for NHS mental health services.

One of the current research projects I’m involved in is investigating the role of psychosocial factors in the experience of suicidal thoughts, feelings and acts amongst people who have a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar Disorder is characterised by the experience of severe and dynamic mood swings, including the experience of prolonged periods of depression and mania, and can be one of the most disabling mental health diagnoses. Yet, many people manage their Bipolar Disorder very successfully and some report positive experiences associated with their Bipolar Disorder. Of particular concern, however, is the high rate of completed suicide amongst people who have a Bipolar Disorder diagnosis – around 19% are thought to die by suicide (estimates do variety as Bipolar Disorder is often misdiagnosed) – meaning that people who experience Bipolar Disorder are at a substantially greater risk of completing suicide compared to people from the general population (estimates vary but are around 1.5% for the general population).

Our research, led by our PhD Student Rebecca Owen, was motivated by a general lack of good quality psychological research into the experience of suicidal thoughts, feelings and behaviours in people with lived experience of Bipolar Disorder. We were particularly interested in understanding people’s personal experiences of suicidality and understanding the role of psychological and social factors associated with heightened suicidality. Rebecca’s first paper, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, was based on a series of qualitative interviews conducted with 20 people who have a Bipolar Disorder diagnosis and who reported the past experience of suicidal thoughts, feelings and/or behaviours. The interviews focused on our participants’ experiences of factors which worsened their experiences of suicidality and, importantly, were protective against suicidality.

We found a number of key themes in the data – including the “impact of others on suicide” (relating to the potential impact on others after suicide – e.g. family members) and “reflecting on positive social experiences” as being protective factors against suicidality. Factors which triggered or worsened suicidal thoughts included the role of negative social events (e.g. negative social interactions and more major life events like bereavements) as well as not feeling understood by others (including participants’ perceptions of being stigmatised due to their diagnosis), feeling like a burden to others and interactions with other people which reinforced the participants’ own negative self-appraisals and thoughts. These results are novel as they focus on people’s lived experience of suicidality including factors which may protect against or worsen suicidal thoughts and feelings. This study formed the first part of Rebecca’s PhD thesis and helped to inform her current studies which are looking at which of these factors (based on a literature review and this qualitative study) predict suicidal thoughts, feelings and behaviours in people with a Bipolar Disorder over time.

In addition to this study, we are working on papers discussing the impact of social factors on the experience of Bipolar Disorder more generally (and vice versa – how does Bipolar Disorder affect individuals’ social lives), a literature review of studies investigating psychosocial predictors of suicidality in people with Bipolar Disorder, as well as a paper reporting our participants’ subjective experience of participating in research discussing suicide. This latter paper is particularly novel as the majority of our participants reported that discussing their own experiences of suicidality was not distressing and we have identified some good practice guidelines for conducting suicide-focused research interviews.

We hope that this research contributes to the understanding of the experience of suicidality in people with a Bipolar Disorder diagnosis and contributes to the development of evidence-based psychological therapies. We are currently running further studies and we are seeking volunteers who have a Bipolar Disorder diagnosis to participate in an online questionnaire study – for more details about the study please contact Rebecca via rebecca.owen-6@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

Dr Rob Dempsey is a Lecturer in Psychology at Staffordshire University and a member of the University’s Centre for Psychological Research and the Centre for Health Psychology. Rob is co-supervising Rebecca Owen’s PhD with Dr Trish Gooding (University of Manchester) and Professor Steven Jones (Spectrum Centre, University of Lancaster). Rebecca’s PhD is funded by a Studentship from the School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Manchester.