Life Trajectories of Suicide Attempt Survivors

The aim of this study is to perform a qualitative analysis of selected life trajectories of patients with a history of attempted suicide with the purpose of identifying personal and psychosocial factors that favor suicidal behavior and those that ground resilience. Five suicide attempt survivors from a community mental health service were interviewed for about 6 hours over a period of 12 months by means of a semistructured guide consisting of 10 domains and 86 cue questions. Qualitative analysis was performed by means of the parallel life stories method, and relevant biographical issues were identified. This analysis was conducted using the software package ATLAS.ti. The qualitative analysis of life stories yielded six categories and 62 items as follows: (i) broken childhood (15 items), (ii) education (9 items), (iii) employment as a promoter of health and social inclusion (9 items), (iv) family and current social network (5 items), (v) mental health and mental disorder (10 items), and (vi) experiences around attempted suicide (14 items). These categories are illustrated with matching quotations from the life stories. Childhood trauma appears to be the cornerstone on which all participants’ stories are based. Reliable carers are essential for making traumatic histories comprehensible.