Of Love and Death: Death Anxiety, Attachment, and Suicide as Experienced by College Students

Drawing from the mental health crisis present on college campuses, we investigate the psychological processes associated with suicidal ideation among undergraduate students. Specifically, we used Terror Management Theory to investigate how individuals who have a history of suicidal ideation handle traditional death anxiety in coordination with Benjamin’s theory underlying Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy to explore specific attachment-based mechanisms that may allow for exceptions to the perceived meaning of death. Results show it was the fantasy of suicide itself, including its relevance in the lives of others, that was used to alleviate fear of death among the suicidal.