not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Existential Parallelism and Suicidal Desire: A Clinical Framework for Meaning-Based Assessment and Intervention

not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Existential Parallelism and Suicidal Desire: A Clinical Framework for Meaning-Based Assessment and Intervention | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 9 December 2025 V1 Latest version Share on not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Existential Parallelism and Suicidal Desire: A Clinical Framework for Meaning-Based Assessment and Intervention Author : Élison Silva Santos 0000-0002-0013-3204 [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176531597.71852677/v1 292 views 172 downloads Contents Abstract Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Objective: This paper introduces a socio-existential framework for understanding suicidal desire by integrating Existential Parallelism (EP) (Silva Santos, 2025) with the Five-Step Meaning-Centred (M-5) clinical model (Silva Santos & Antúnez, 2025). Whereas theories such as the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS) emphasize proximal psychological states, this integration proposes a pre-IPTS layer that explains how late-modern social conditions create antecedent vulnerabilities that can precipitate acute suicidal crises. Method: Through conceptual synthesis, this paper integrates classical and contemporary social theory, existential psychology, and clinical suicidology. The EP–M5 model is grounded in empirical findings on meaninglessness, the influence of digital environments on belongingness, experiential avoidance, perfectionism, and the psychological effects of economic and social precarity. Results: EP identifies a distinct mechanism: a societally induced existential vacuum that leads individuals to rely on inauthentic “parallel paths,” such as performative selfhood, ideological rigidity, consumerism, or achievement-based identities. The collapse of these substitute attachments, such as the implosion of a digital persona or failure of a productivity-based self, functions as an event-based catalyst for suicidal desire. These collapse events rapidly intensify thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and psychache, aligning with ideation-to-action frameworks and contemporary clinical observations. Conclusion: The EP–M5 integrated model contributes a clinically actionable perspective by situating suicidal desire within a broader crisis of meaning. It supports a meaning-centered, process-based approach to assessment and intervention, guiding clinicians to identify collapsed life projects, fragile identity structures, and existential disruptions that may underlie acute suicidal crises. This framework offers new targets for clinical treatment, empirical evaluation, and prevention. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Introduction Suicidal crises are often understood through the lenses of psychache (Shneidman, 1993) and the psychological states described by the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS; Joiner, 2005). These models have shaped clinical practice by highlighting the roles of unbearable internal pain, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness. Yet despite their substantial influence, the field continues to struggle with predicting suicidal behavior in real-world clinical settings. The landmark meta-analysis by Franklin et al. (2017) demonstrated that five decades of research based on static risk factors has not produced clinically actionable predictive models, underscoring the need for frameworks that better capture the dynamic processes leading to suicidal desire. Machine learning (ML) approaches have emerged as one response to this challenge. Systematic reviews indicate that ML models can reach high predictive accuracy (Ehtemam et al., 2024), but they also reveal a critical limitation: most algorithms rely on the same traditional inputs, demographics, diagnoses, and substance use history (Ehtemam et al., 2024). These tools are powerful, but they remain constrained by the absence of theoretical models capable of identifying the dynamic psychological and experiential variables that clinicians actually encounter during moments of crisis. This paper introduces the framework of Existential Parallelism (EP; Silva Santos, 2025) as one approach to addressing this gap. EP proposes a socio-existential An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. “pre-history” to the states described by IPTS, suggesting that late modern social conditions can generate a pervasive sense of meaninglessness, or existential vacuum. In response, individuals may adopt inauthentic An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. “parallel paths”, such as consumerism, ideological rigidity, or performative online identities, as attempts to compensate for this loss of meaning. Clinically, EP proposes that the collapse of these substitute attachments constitutes a distinct and underrecognized pathway to suicidal desire. When a parallel path fails, the individual confronts the underlying existential vacuum directly, often accompanied by acute psychache and a rapid intensification of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. This mechanism does not replace existing models emphasizing psychiatric severity, impulsivity, or neurobiological vulnerability, but rather complements them by identifying a dynamic, experience-near process that clinicians may observe when a patient An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. ’s life project has collapsed. To advance this contribution, the present paper outlines the conceptual and empirical foundations of EP and integrates the model with the Five-Step Meaning-Centred (M-5) clinical framework for assessment and intervention (Silva Santos & Antúnez, 2025). By doing so, the paper aims to offer clinicians a more comprehensive and clinically actionable understanding of how meaning disruptions, identity collapse, and socio-existential factors contribute to suicidal desire, and how these processes can be addressed in therapeutic practice. 2. Method This study is a conceptual analysis using a method of theoretical synthesis. It integrates principles from three areas, classical and contemporary social theory, existential psychology, and clinical suicidology, to develop an interdisciplinary framework. The process involved a structured review of foundational theories and recent empirical findings to identify points of convergence relevant to suicidal desire. Established models, including the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS), were examined to determine how the proposed framework could complement and extend existing clinical formulations. The objective of this synthesis is to link macro-level sociocultural conditions with micro-level psychological processes in order to generate a novel, testable model of the antecedents of suicidal desire. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 3. Results: The Existential Parallelism (EP) Model and Its Clinical Relevance The Existential Parallelism (EP) framework (Silva Santos, 2025) offers a clinically applicable model for understanding how sociocultural conditions contribute to suicidal desire. It consists of two interrelated components: (1) a macro-level An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. “existential vacuum” shaped by late-modern structural pressures, and (2) micro-level coping responses in which individuals adopt inauthentic, unstable crises. This model aligns with contemporary clinical theories emphasizing the transition from chronic distress to acute suicidal desire (Joiner, 2005; Klonsky & May, 2015; Jobes et al., 2018). Component 1: The Existential Vacuum as a Societally Induced Clinical Vulnerability EP begins with the \RL“existential vacuum” (Frankl, 1969), conceptualized here as a chronic, measurable vulnerability involving meaninglessness, purposelessness, and inner emptiness. This condition is shaped by structural forces described across sociological theory, disenchantment (Weber, 1978), liquid modernity (Bauman, 2000), achievement culture (Han, 2015), and social acceleration (Rosa, 2013). Clinically, these dynamics correspond with documented increases in loneliness (Kirwan et al., 2025; OSG, 2023), declining social capital (Putnam & Romney Garrett, 2020), and widespread reports of existential distress among patients. Operationally, the existential vacuum can be assessed using validated measures of Meaning in Life, existential emptiness, and value disconnection. This makes EP directly relevant for clinical assessment and case formulation. Component 2: Parallel Paths and Substitute Attachments as Maladaptive Coping Strategies To cope with the existential vacuum, individuals may adopt culturally sanctioned \RL“substitute attachments”, identity systems that promise purpose but are psychologically fragile. These include: Consumerism , which links well-being to material success (Moldes et al., 2025; Mendini & Furchheim, 2025) Ideological rigidity , offering belonging through totalized belief systems (Ellenberg & Kruglanski, 2024) Performative selfhood , the digital \RL“brand-self” curated online (Twenge, 2020; Valkenburg et al., 2022) Hedonistic escapism , a form of experiential avoidance associated with suicidality (Galanter et al., 2023; Angelakis & Gooding, 2021) Clinically, these parallel paths function as compensatory identity structures, until they fail. Their inherent instability makes their collapse a potent trigger for suicidal desire, consistent with models that emphasize precipitants of acute shifts in suicidal intent (Klonsky & May, 2015; Fallahi-Khoshknab, et al., 2023; Peters et al., 2022). The Catalytic Mechanism: How Parallel Path Collapse Drives Suicidal Desire EP posits that suicidal crises often arise not from the gradual worsening of symptoms but from an event : the collapse of a substitute attachment. This failure exposes the existential vacuum and rapidly intensifies psychache, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness, the proximal states identified by IPTS (Joiner, 2005) and consistent with clinical observations in CAMS (Jobes et al., 2018). The following four pathways illustrate how different forms of collapse map onto core clinical drivers of suicidal desire. 1. Collapse of the Performative Self → Thwarted Belongingness In the attention economy, digital identities become primary sources of belonging. This identity is fragile: cybervictimization, algorithmic invisibility, or online exclusion can abruptly dismantle the performative self. Cybervictimization is a robust predictor of suicidal ideation and attempts, largely mediated by social disconnection (Hinduja & Patchin, 2018). Social comparison online further intensifies loneliness and inadequacy (Faelens et al., 2021). When this path collapses, individuals lose not only status but their primary mode of relational connection, resulting in acute thwarted belongingness. 2. Implosion of Ideological Rigidity → Catastrophic Hopelessness Rigid ideological systems provide structure, purpose, and coherence. When these systems fail, due to personal disillusionment, group collapse, or betrayal, individuals may experience catastrophic hopelessness rather than slow depressive erosion. This mirrors veterans and healthcare workers (Litz et al., 2009; Griffin et al., 2025). The loss of a totalizing worldview eliminates perceived future possibilities, triggering acute despair. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 3. Failure of Hedonism and Consumerism → Intolerable Psychache Hedonism and consumerism function as experiential avoidance strategies, efforts to escape intolerable internal states. Experiential avoidance is a transdiagnostic risk factor for suicidality (Angelakis & Gooding, 2021; Grove et al., 2024; Maynard et al., 2025). When avoidance breaks down, individuals confront unbuffered distress. Defeat combined with high avoidance predicts entrapment (Ordóñez-Carrasco et al., 2020), a direct driver of suicidal ideation. The collapse of this path exposes a profound, inescapable pain, intolerable psychache (Shneidman, 1993). not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 4. Rupture of the Brand-Self → Perceived Burdensomeness In neoliberal contexts, worth is tied to productivity and achievement. Job loss, burnout, or professional failure can rupture this liabilities. Unemployment is a consistent suicide risk factor (Hughes et al., 2025; Na et al., 2025; Gallagher et al., 2025). Socially prescribed perfectionism, self-worth contingent on meeting external standards—is strongly linked to perceived burdensomeness (Sommerfeld & Malek, 2019). When the brand-self collapses, individuals conclude they are a burden, mirroring a core IPTS state. Integrating EP with Empirical Findings in Suicidology EP is supported by three converging research trends central to clinical psychology: not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown A. Meaninglessness as a Hub of Suicide Risk MiL deficits predict suicidal ideation beyond depression and hopelessness (Li et al., 2024). Meaninglessness functions as a path from depression to suicidal ideation (Pérez Rodríguez et al., 2024). This strongly supports the EP concept of the existential vacuum as a clinically actionable risk factor. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown B. Social Determinants and Structural Vulnerability The public-health turn emphasizes that suicide risk is shaped by structural inequities (Knipe et al., 2022). Housing insecurity and eviction risk predict suicidal behavior (Kwon et al., 2026), offering concrete evidence for the EP mechanism of An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. “brand-self rupture.” Such findings highlight EP An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. ’s relevance for clinical assessment of socioeconomic stressors. C. Digital Environments as a Suicidal Risk Context Social comparison and feedback-seeking online increase suicidality (Valkenburg et al., 2022), while cybervictimization predicts suicidal behavior (Hinduja & Patchin, 2018). These effects map directly onto EP\RL’s performative-self collapse pathway, offering a clinically relevant model for understanding digital-era crises. Responding to the Prediction Problem in Suicidology EP reframes widely used suicide risk variables, e.g., hopelessness, depression, not as stable traits, but as outcomes of life-project collapse. By shifting attention from static factors to dynamic events, EP aligns with modern clinical theories emphasizing rapid transitions in suicidal intent (Fallahi-Khoshknab, et al., 2023; Peters et al., 2022). This provides a conceptual foundation for developing more responsive clinical assessments and potentially enhancing prediction. 4. Discussion: Clinical and Research Implications The Existential Parallelism (EP) framework offers a clinically actionable lens for understanding suicidal desire by linking micro-level distress with macro-level sociocultural conditions (Silva Santos, 2025). Rather than replacing established clinical models, EP enriches them by identifying a dynamic, event-based mechanism, the collapse of a substitute attachment, that often precedes shifts into suicidal intent. This framing aligns with contemporary suicide theories emphasizing transitions from ideation to action (Klonsky & May, 2015; Peters et al., 2022) and integrates naturally with clinical approaches focused on meaning, identity, and personal agency. In particular, EP deepens and operationalizes the Five-Step Meaning-Centred Framework (M-5) for suicide prevention (Silva Santos & Antúnez, 2025), enhancing the clinician\RL’s ability to conceptualize and intervene when patients confront crises of meaning. 4.1. How EP Enriches the M-5 Clinical Pathway An EP-informed perspective strengthens each phase of the M-5 model by identifying a concrete therapeutic target: the collapse of a life project, such as a digital persona, ideological commitment, or achievement-based self, functions as a rapid precipitator of suicidal desire, activating the states described by IPTS (Joiner, 2005) and frequently observed in CAMS-based formulations (Jobes et al., 2018). Understanding this collapse enables clinicians to match the patient\RL’s distress to its existential origins. Step 1: Differentiated Reception. EP clarifies that shame, isolation, and hopelessness may reflect not only depressive symptoms but the sudden disintegration of a substitute attachment. Through this lens, the clinician\RL’s empathic stance validates the meaning of the collapse itself, a key factor in reducing suicidal intent and rupture (Licciardone et al., 2025; Jobes & Joiner, 2019). Step 2: Connecting with Core Values. EP helps clinicians differentiate between the hollow values embedded in parallel paths and genuine, sustainable values. This distinction aligns with principles from ACT, where values clarification is essential for reducing experiential avoidance and suicidal ideation (Ortas-Barajas & Manchón, 2024; Hayes & Hofmann, 2020). EP augments this process by identifying which values were artificially propped up by social pressures rather than authentically chosen. Step 3: Expanding Perspectives. EP reframes the \RL“constricted worldview” seen in Step 3 as the cognitive narrowing that occurs when an identity-defining path collapses. This aligns with research showing that suicidal crises are characterized by cognitive rigidity, entrapment, and impaired future thinking (O\RL’Connor & Kirtley, 2018; Bryan et al., 2020). Clinicians can help patients re-evaluate the meaning of the collapse and explore alternative narratives beyond the failed path. Step 4: Navigating Existential Tensions. EP normalizes existential anxiety as a natural outcome of confronting the vacuum left by collapse. Rather than pathologizing this tension, the clinician helps patients tolerate and metabolize existential discomfort, similar to approaches in existential-humanistic therapy and logotherapy (Heidenreich et al., 2021). Step 5: Rediscovering Purpose and Agency. EP directly informs the construction of a new life project resilient to future collapse. This supports treatment goals emphasized in recovery-oriented care, meaning-centered therapies, and CAMS, restoring agency, coherence, and the capacity for self-directed action (Jobes et al., 2018; Breitbart et al., 2010). By helping patients build meaning structures that do not rely on unstable social scripts, clinicians can reduce the vulnerability that comes from existentially fragile identities. 4.2. A Forward-Looking Research Agenda Advancing EP as a clinical and empirical model requires a coordinated research program across qualitative, quantitative, and intervention-focused methodologies. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 1. Qualitative Studies: Understanding Parallel Path Collapse In-depth phenomenological interviews can clarify how individuals experience the collapse of a substitute attachment, including emotional, cognitive, and identity-based shifts. This is consistent with clinical descriptions of acute suicidal crises as rapid shifts into co-occurring states of overarousal and shutdown, conceptualized by Joiner and Stanley (2016) as antipredator defensive reactions. Clarifying the lived experience of collapse will improve clinical application and guide measurement development. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 2. Measurement Development and Psychometrics EP requires validated tools to assess: existential vacuum substitute attachment involvement perceived stability of a parallel path collapse events collapse severity Developing and validating these scales (Myers et al., 2023) will provide dynamic variables that improve suicide risk prediction and align with measurement frameworks used in CAMS, IPTS, IMV, and 3ST. 3. Intervention Trials To evaluate clinical utility, randomized or quasi-experimental trials should compare: • EP-informed M-5 vs. standard M-5 • EP-informed M-5 vs. usual care • EP-informed interventions integrated with CAMS or ACT Primary outcomes could include reduced suicidal ideation, fewer attempts, greater Meaning in Life, and enhanced agency, outcomes consistently associated with reduced suicide risk (Li et al., 2024; Licciardone et al., 2025). not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 4. Integration With Predictive Science EP-generated variables, such as collapse severity or parallel path dependence, could enrich ML models currently limited by static data (Ehtemam et al., 2024). Incorporating dynamic, meaning-related variables aligns with new calls for process-based prediction rather than symptom-based prediction (Millner et al., 2020). 5. Structural and Population-Level Research EP posits that sociocultural factors, economic precarity, digital environments, social fragmentation, shape vulnerability to collapse. Population-level studies can test correlations between: • national economic indicators • measures of digital exposure • social capital indices • changes in suicide mortality This aligns with contemporary public-health suicidology emphasizing social determinants and structural inequity (Knipe et al., 2022). not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown 5. Conclusion This paper applied the framework of Existential Parallelism (EP) (Silva Santos, 2025) as a socio-existential layer that complements established clinical models of suicidal behavior, particularly the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (Joiner, 2005). EP offers an antecedent explanation for suicidal vulnerability by conceptualizing many acute crises as the collapse of inauthentic An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. “parallel paths,” thereby linking broader sociocultural pressures to the proximal clinical states of thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and intolerable psychache. The evidence reviewed suggests that constructs such as performative selfhood, ideological rigidity, and the An error in the conversion from LaTeX to XML has occurred here. “brand-self” represent measurable and clinically relevant vulnerabilities that frequently appear in contemporary patients, not merely abstract theoretical ideas. The EP–M5 Integrated Framework (Silva Santos & Antúnez, 2025) provides a preliminary structure for incorporating these insights into clinical practice, supporting interventions that help patients differentiate hollow, socially driven identities from authentic values and sustainable sources of purpose. In this way, EP aligns with the broader movement in clinical psychology to move beyond static risk factors (Franklin et al., 2017) toward dynamic, process-based mechanisms capable of explaining sudden shifts into suicidal intent. Limitations and Future Directions: EP is a conceptual model and requires empirical validation. Core constructs, including existential vacuum, substitute attachment, and collapse events, must be operationalized, assessed across cultural contexts, and examined through longitudinal and experimental methods. EP should be understood as a complementary framework rather than a comprehensive account of all suicidal pathways, particularly those rooted in severe psychopathology, trauma, impulsivity, or neurobiological factors. Ultimately, EP encourages clinicians to listen for more than symptoms: to attend to signs of collapsing life projects, ruptured identities, and crises of meaning. By integrating sociocultural insights with psychological science, EP aims to contribute to a more nuanced, compassionate, and clinically useful understanding of suicidal experiences—one that reflects the uniquely modern vulnerabilities of individuals whose lives have lost coherence or purpose. References Angelakis, I., & Gooding, P. (2021). Experiential avoidance in non-suicidal self-injury and suicide experiences: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 51, 978–992. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12784f Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press. 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Economy and society: An outline of interpretive sociology (G. Roth & C. Wittich, Eds.). University of California Press. (Original work published 1922) Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 09 December 2025 Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Keywords assessment clinical psychology meaning suicide Authors Affiliations Élison Silva Santos 0000-0002-0013-3204 [email protected] The Catholic University of America View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 292 views 172 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Élison Silva Santos. not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Existential Parallelism and Suicidal Desire: A Clinical Framework for Meaning-Based Assessment and Intervention. Authorea . 09 December 2025. 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