The Integrated Motivational-Volitional Model of Suicidal Behavior

First paragraph: The integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behavior (IMV; O'Connor, 2011) attempts to synthesize, distill, and extend our knowledge and understanding of why people die by suicide, with a particular focus on the psychology of the suicidal mind. Ever since the mid-1990s, when I embarked on my PhD research, I was driven by the desire to see the world through the eyes of those who are suicidal, to understand something of how their torment, their hopelessness, their feelings of entrapment and despair could lead to suicide. This desire has never waned, but in this pursuit I have been struck by a number of issues I believe have hindered our attempts to understand suicide and ultimately informed my thinking when developing the IMV.