Young men's experiences of living with substance abuse and suicidal behaviour: Between death as an escape from pain and the hope of a life

Abstract

The aim of the study was to illuminate the experiences of suicidal behaviour in young Norwegian men with long-term substance abuse and to interpret their narratives with regard to meaning. Data were collected using open-ended, in-depth interviews. A phenomenological hermeneutic approach, inspired by the philosophy of Ricoeur, was used to analyse the data. The naïve reading involved awareness of the perceived sense of pain and hope in the participants. In the structural analysis, three themes were identified: (1) the meaning of relating, (2) the meaning of reflecting and (3) the meaning of acting. A comprehensive understanding of data indicated that the meaning of living with suicidal behaviour could be understood as a movement between different positions of wanting death as an escape from pain and hope for a better life. Our conclusion is that suicidal behaviour in men with substance abuse is a communicative activity about the individual's lived experience of pain and hope. How the participants experienced and constructed masculinity influenced the suicidal behaviour. To reduce pain and create hope by being seen and confirmed in social relationships, and being helped to verbalize existential thoughts and openly discuss possible solutions, are of importance.

Crucial resources to strengthen the desire to live

“…Experiences like these can be understood as turning points, in that the experiences appeared to increase awareness of the danger signals and of acts to prevent the development of suicidal thoughts when they were detected. Turning points are also acknowledged in other studies 7,19 as promoting the recovery process in cases of suicidality. The experiential knowledge of suicidal patients is important in clinical work, but also in terms of building up suicide prevention programmes.…”

“…17,18 Being seen and confirmed stimulated hope. 19 Suicidal persons experienced the contact they had with psychiatric health services as helpful and the social network as supportive, to the extent that they spoke with friends or family about their feelings. 15,20 Suicidal persons experienced responsibility for persons close to them.…”

Living in a maze: Health, well-being and coping in young non-western men in Scandinavia experiencing substance abuse and suicidal behaviour

“…The mutual dynamics of belonging worked in the opposite direction, as the participants' sense of low self-worth escalated their withdrawal from social life and thus led to further social isolation. To handle these negative dynamics, suicidal behaviour was used to alleviate their pain and existential void (Biong & Ravndal, 2007). However, one positive part of the repertoire was that the participants did not report misuse of alcohol.…”

“…When we were working on an earlier study of young men with substance abuse and suicidal behaviour (Biong & Ravndal, 2007), some alarm bells rang when there was a steep increase in Oslo in mortality from overdoses in male immigrants from nonwestern countries (Municipality of Oslo, 2005). From 2002 to 2004, the prevalence increased from 3% to 14%.…”

Bridging the gaps: Experiencing and preventing life-threatening heroin overdoses in men in Oslo

“…In order to examine the lived experiences of men who had taken life-threatening overdoses in Oslo, biographical accounts were collected using a secondary analysis of four in-depth interviews (Biong & Ravndal, 2007). Additional data were collected in cooperation with relevant services.…”