Eyes Fixed on Heaven’s Gate: An Empirical Examination of Blink Rate and Suicide

Abstract

Anecdotal and theoretical work suggests blink rate as an indicator of imminent suicide risk. We sought to empirically examine whether suicide decedents displayed a reduced blink rate in goodbye videos filmed before death, compared to several control groups. Independent raters coded blink rates from videos of 34 suicide decedents and four comparison groups: “mundane” product review, non-suicidal arousal, non-suicidal depression, and non-imminent risk of suicidal ideation. Mean blink rate was lower in the suicide decedent group relative to all comparison groups (ps < .001), except the depressed (p = .976) and suicidal ideation (p = .393) groups. Findings indicate blink rate may be reduced among individuals at imminent risk for suicide, exhibiting clinically-significant depressive symptoms, or experiencing suicidal ideation.

Keywords:

• Blink rate
• eye blink
• risk assessment
• suicidal ideation
• suicide

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data is available from authors upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF 1449440) and the NSF Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Program (BCS 1251520) and by the Military Suicide Research Consortium (MSRC), an effort supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (W81XWH-16-2-0003). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, Military Suicide Research Consortium, or Department of Defense.

Notes on contributors

Mary E. Duffy

Mary E. Duffy, James K. McNulty, and Thomas Joiner, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA. Jennifer Buchman-Schmitt, Seattle Division, VA Puget Sound HCS, Seattle, WA, USA.

Jennifer M. Buchman-Schmitt

Mary E. Duffy, James K. McNulty, and Thomas Joiner, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA. Jennifer Buchman-Schmitt, Seattle Division, VA Puget Sound HCS, Seattle, WA, USA.

James K. McNulty

Mary E. Duffy, James K. McNulty, and Thomas Joiner, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA. Jennifer Buchman-Schmitt, Seattle Division, VA Puget Sound HCS, Seattle, WA, USA.

Thomas E. Joiner

Mary E. Duffy, James K. McNulty, and Thomas Joiner, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA. Jennifer Buchman-Schmitt, Seattle Division, VA Puget Sound HCS, Seattle, WA, USA.