Psychotic Experiences and Suicidal Behavior in Mental Health
Summary
Psychotic experiences—ranging from fleeting perceptual anomalies to attenuated delusional thoughts—are increasingly recognised as significant markers of mental health vulnerability. Although these phenomena often occur below the threshold of clinical psychosis, they exert a measurable influence on the emergence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours across the lifespan. A complex interplay of individual factors, including childhood adversity, mood dysregulation and cognitive biases, underpins this association. Emerging evidence highlights the importance of temporal dynamics, with both psychotic-like experiences and suicidal ideation exhibiting bidirectional influences. Understanding these pathways is vital for early identification and intervention, with implications for global mental health policy and the design of preventive strategies that target resilience and distress tolerance.
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Psychotic Experiences and Suicidal Behavior in Mental Health publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in psychotic experiences and suicidal behavior in mental health across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Psychotic-like experiences: Subclinical hallucinatory or delusional phenomena occurring in the general population.
Suicidal ideation: Thoughts about taking one’s own life, ranging from fleeting considerations to detailed planning.
Non-suicidal self-injury: Deliberate self-harm without intent to end one’s life, often serving as a coping mechanism for distress.
Resilience: The capacity to adapt, recover or maintain psychological equilibrium in the face of adversity.
References
- Longitudinal relationships of psychotic-like experiences with suicidal ideation and self-harm in adolescents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2023).
- Resilience buffers the association between psychotic-like experiences and suicide risk: a prospective study from a non-clinical sample. BMC Psychiatry (2024).
- Psychotic experiences, suicidality and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents: Independent findings from two cohorts. Schizophrenia Research (2023).
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