A scoping review of suicide self-stigma in people with lived and living experience

Suicide is a global public health concern and leading cause of death. Suicide self-stigma—a person’s negative attitudes and beliefs about their experiences with suicidal thoughts and behaviours—is common and is linked to poor outcomes among suicidal people (Carpinello & Pinna, 2017; Hanschmidt et al., 2016). More broadly, suicide self-stigma increases survivors’ feelings of shame and avoidance of situations that involve disclosure, which may be a barrier to help-seeking and suicide prevention efforts (Calear et al., 2023; Handschmidt et al., 2016). Self-stigma related to mental health has been widely studied, but suicide self-stigma has received far less attention. Existing studies have found that self-stigma may increase suicidal ideation and behaviour, and may pose a barrier to help-seeking and disclosure (Carpiniello & Pinna, 2017; Frey et al., 2016). However, the literature lacks cohesive synthesis regarding the scope and mechanisms of self-stigma in suicide. Specifically, suicide self-stigma is defined inconsistently across research studies. Additionally, it remains unclear whether certain populations are more at risk for experiencing stigma about their suicidal thoughts or behaviours. The first aim of this review is to synthesize sample characteristics and research designs in studies that focus on suicide self-stigma and involve people with lived and living experience of suicide attempt and/or suicidal ideation. The second aim is to summarize the language used to define and operationalize suicide self-stigma in the suicide literature.