Enhancing youth suicide prevention: The critical role of family involvement in screening, intervention, and postvention.

Abstract

Background: Suicide often arises from a collapse of personal identity and life narrative; yet, traditional risk assessments frequently overlook these deeper disruptions. Narrative identity theory offers a lens to understand suicidality as a crisis of selfhood and meaning.

Aim: This article introduces a clinically applicable method to assess suicide risk through three core narrative domains: character (who the person is), setting (where they come from), and script (where they believe they are going).

Method: Drawing on narrative identity theory and existential psychology, the proposed approach guides clinicians to identify disconnections in role, belonging, and future orientation. Story-based tools for assessment and intervention are presented to support the reconstruction of narrative coherence and personal agency.

Results: Mapping narrative disruptions across character, setting, and script enables early identification of suicide risk, especially in individuals who may not meet traditional thresholds for acute risk. Narrative reauthoring interventions help reestablish continuity, coherence, and hope.

Conclusion: This narrative framework enhances suicide prevention by moving beyond symptom management toward meaning-centered engagement. By helping individuals reweave fragmented life stories, clinicians can more effectively intervene in the existential and identity-based dimensions of suicidality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).