The Relevance of Religion and Spirituality for Suicide Prevention

Dear Colleagues,

The scientific study of suicide began with Emile Durkheim’s (1897, 2013) Le Suicide. One of the primary arguments of his sociological approach was the powerful role of religion in suicidality across cultures. Since his time, the understanding of both suicide and religion has advanced considerably. The notion that religious communities could have profound effects on the suicidal behaviors and experiences of individuals has been confirmed by numerous studies over the past 125 years (Gearing & Alonzo, 2018; Wu et al., 2015). At the same time, religion and spirituality are complex existential and sociocultural experiences that can have bidirectional relationships with cognitive, emotional, and even biological processes. Most research linking religion and suicide has not understood the complexities of religious and spiritual experiences. Research on the role of religion and spirituality in suicide prevention could be advanced by efforts to more fully understanding these processes and their relationships with suicidality.

Yet, many of the studies that validated the protective role of religion and spirituality relied on a risk factor approach to suicide prediction that has not led to scientific advancement (Franklin et al., 2018). Self-report measures of suicidal ideation have similarly performed poorly at predicting suicide risk (Runeson et al. 2017). More recently, leading researchers have argued for alterntive approaches that may lead to improved prediction of short-term risk, including ideation-to-action frameworks (Klonsky & May, 2014; Klonsky, Saffer, & Bryan, 2018), narrative models of suicidal crises (Galynker, 2017), and tying risk factors to the particular circumstances and characteristics that elicit suicidal behavior (Hjelmeland, 2017). These leading researchers have argued that the science of suicidality could better inform suicide prevention if utilizing these models in research.

Aims of the Special Issue:

This special issue aims to advance the scientific and theoretical understanding of the role of religion and spirituality in suicide prevention by incorporating these emerging models, resulting in a more dynamic understanding of the mechanisms by which religion and spirituality can affect suicide risk. Moreover, this special issue aims to advance research on the inclusion of religion and spirituality into suicide interventions, preventative models, and postvention approaches.

Potential Topics:

• Responses of religious or spiritual communities to people affected by suicide, including people with suicidal thoughts or behavior and survivors of suicide loss.
• The role of religious and spiritual views of human sexuality and gender identity on suicidality.
• Novel interventions or support groups that incorporate religious or spiritual teachings, perspectives, or practices to reduce risk of suicide and/or increase help-seeking of suicidal individuals.
• Risk and protective factors of varying religious traditions or spiritual experiences for suicidality.
• Scientific studies on psychedelics and entheogens that investigate religious or spiritual experiences as mediators or moderators of suicide risk.
• Epidemiological studies on prevalence of suicidal ideation, attempts, and deaths by religious or spiritual tradition, expecially if incorporating contemporary constructs of religiousness, spirituality, or suicidality.

Article Types:

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Suicide research needs methodologically diverse approaches to advance (Hjelmeland, 2017). For this reason, empirical research that incorporates experimental, quasi-experimental, and qualitative designs will all be considered. Certain theoretical and theological articles will also be considered, given methodological rigor appropriate to the discipline. 

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Curtis Lehmann
Guest Editor

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• religious beliefs and practices
• religious communities
• spirituality
• suicide prevention
• suicide intervention
• suicide prevention
• suicide stigma