Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Suicidal Behavior: “Only Girl, Middle Child”

Abstract:

This chapter employs an individual-based, narrative synthesis to examine how chronic loneliness and social isolation interact with sociocultural stressors to fuel suicidal ideation and behavior across four diverse lives: Jane Doe (Uganda), Amber (United States), Mark (United States), and Ahmed (Algeria). Drawing on the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS) and the Integrated Motivational-Volitional (IMV) model, we analyze how thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, defeat, and entrapment converged with culture-specific pressures—patriarchal

gender norms, perfectionistic academic climates, masculine stoicism, and bureaucratic injustice—to produce a shared pathway toward self-harm. The case vignettes reveal that sustained invalidation or humiliation eroded self-worth, while mounting isolation severed protective relationships; alcohol or other disinhibitors amplified volitional risk, and unrestricted access to lethal means converted ideation into action. Despite distinct settings, the narratives expose common psychological cornering whereby the absence of a trusted connection and realistic escape routes precipitated fatal outcomes. The chapter highlights Multiple Family Group therapy and the Friendship Bench model as culturally adaptable, community-anchored interventions

capable of rebuilding social integration, reducing stigma, and addressing loneliness in low-resource contexts. It calls for longitudinal, cross-cultural research to delineate protective factors that buffer socially isolated individuals and to evaluate the scalability of such interventions. Ultimately, by foregrounding personal trajectories, the analysis underscores that effective suicide prevention must target both the cognitive architecture of entrapment and the social vacuum of loneliness that renders death a perceived solution.

Author: Raymond Atwebembere

Journal: Intechopen

Link to publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1011901