Chapter 6 - Building Resilient Individuals, Communities, and Societies to Prevent Suicide

Summary

This chapter summarizes an optimistic perspective of the progress that has been made and what is known about suicide, while highlighting the questions that remain. We point out that many traditional understandings of suicide focus on risk factors, problems, and deficits and suggest there may be a role of more positive constructs, such as resilience, optimism, hope, gratitude, and others. We discuss the potential role of resilience – at the individual, community, and societal levels – in reducing suicide, and how positive psychology can inform suicide prevention efforts. Interventions to build psychological capital, resilience, personal strengths, or community empowerment may be beneficial. Indeed, positive suicidology, and even critical suicidology to a certain extent, attempt to incorporate these aspects.