“It is never okay to talk about suicide”: Patients’ reasons for concealing suicidal ideation in psychotherapy

Abstract

Objective: To identify psychotherapy clients’ motives for concealing suicidal ideation from their therapist, and their perceptions of how their therapists could better elicit honest disclosure. Method: A sample of 66 psychotherapy clients who reported concealing suicidal ideation from their therapist provided short essay responses explaining their motives for doing so and what their therapist could do to help them be more honest. Content analysis was used to identify major motives and themes in these responses. Results: Seventy percent of suicidal ideation concealers cited fear of unwanted practical impacts outside therapy as the reason they did not disclose. Chief among these unwanted impacts was involuntary hospitalization, a perceived outcome of disclosing even mild suicidal thoughts. Less concrete motives for concealment, such as shame or embarrassment, were significant but secondary concerns. Nearly half of suicide-concealing clients said they would be more honest only if the threat of hospitalization was somehow reduced or controlled. Conclusion: Fostering disclosure of suicidal ideation in therapy may require renewed attention to providing transparent, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand psychoeducation about the triggers for hospitalization and other interventions. Clients make risk-benefit calculations about whether to disclose suicidal ideation, but may operate with exaggerated or inaccurate ideas about the consequences of disclosure.

Keywords:

• Suicide
• psychotherapy
• disclosure
• lying

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to Melanie N. Love for her help shaping and conducting this research.