An exploratory study of painful and provocative events and suicidality: The mediating role of physical dissociation and body insensitivity

Abstract

This research study examined physical dissociation and body insensitivity as sequential mediators in the relationship of painful and provocative events with suicidality. A sample of 290 American community adults (150 men, 140 women) participated. Mean age of participants was 37.24 years (SD = 11.51). We tested statistical mediation effects, using path analysis in structural equation modeling. Physical dissociation and body insensitivity fully mediated the relationship between painful and provocative events and suicide motivation and partially mediated the relationship between painful and provocative events and suicide preparation. For both models (suicide motivation and suicide preparation), body insensitivity partially mediated the relationship between physical dissociation and suicidality. Results align closely with Orbach’s (1994) hypothesis that, to die by suicide, an individual must overcome the pain and horror of death and that this can be facilitated through physical dissociation and numbness that result from an individual being exposed to painful and traumatic events. Based on these findings, clinical interventions that focus on addressing dissociation or body indifference may have the potential to break the link between traumatic experiences and suicidality.