A groundbreaking new study sheds light on the intimate and deeply personal reasons suicidal adolescents identify as motivating factors for choosing to live. Conducted by an international research team including Dr. Mathijs Lucassen of City St George’s, University of London, this investigation offers crucial insights into the internal landscapes of young people grappling with suicidal ideation. The findings hold the potential to revolutionize mental health interventions by providing tailored, hope-centered approaches that prioritize individual motivations and lived realities.
This pioneering research involved a comprehensive linguistic analysis of written responses from 211 adolescents aged between 13 and 17 years who were hospitalized following a suicidal crisis in the United States. Each participant was asked to list three “reasons for living” (RFL) as part of established safety planning protocols. Through this corpus-driven language analysis, the team could systematically dissect and categorize the expressed sentiments and motivations that underpin these vulnerable youths’ desire to persevere.
The study illuminated family connections as the dominant source of meaning and survival for these adolescents. However, it also revealed a rich tapestry of other motivating factors encompassing personal dreams, aspirations, and mundane joys alike. Participants frequently referenced ambitions such as pursuing a career, traveling, and engaging in meaningful cultural or artistic experiences, including concerts and body art. This diversity in reasons highlights the multifaceted nature of resilience among suicidal teens.
Importantly, Dr. Lucassen and colleagues emphasize the therapeutic implications of understanding these individualized reasons for living. Identifying a young person’s unique RFL profile can guide clinicians in constructing stronger therapeutic alliances, tailoring therapy goals, and focusing treatment plans on enhancing protective factors grounded in the adolescent’s own values and aspirations. This personal alignment could markedly improve engagement and efficacy in clinical care.
Linguistic analysis of the corpus notably identified “my” as the most frequently used word, underscoring the profound self-referential and relational focus in these young people’s narratives. Such linguistic patterns signify how adolescents conceive their survival and hope through deeply personal attachments to relationships, places, and ambitions. The presence of future-oriented expressions, such as “to see what the future has for me” or “to live for myself and enjoy my life,” conveys a curious and tentative hope that contrasts starkly with the immediacy of their crises.
The international and interdisciplinary nature of the research team, comprising Dr. Ana Ugueto from Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Lauren O’Hagan from The Open University, and Dr. Lucassen, reflects the global urgency of addressing adolescent suicide with culturally sensitive and individualized approaches. Their analysis revealed that these findings are applicable across diverse racial and ethnic groups, with almost half of participants identifying as Latino or Hispanic and strong representation from Black and Caucasian adolescents, thereby enhancing the generalizability of the conclusions.
This study’s contribution extends beyond clinical settings, offering vital insights for families, schools, and community organizations that play critical roles in adolescent wellbeing. By centering interventions around youths’ articulated reasons for living, support systems can move from generic crisis management to deeply person-centered engagement, fostering feelings of being seen, valued, and connected during moments of vulnerability.
Suicide remains a leading cause of death among teenagers globally, and innovative prevention strategies are desperately needed. This research paves the way toward more nuanced, evidence-based approaches. By integrating corpus linguistics — a method that systematically maps language use across large datasets — with clinical psychology, the team has opened new avenues for understanding the subjective lived experiences of suicidal youths.
The study also highlights the importance of therapeutic hope not merely as a platitude but as an empirically grounded construct that can be harnessed through clinical dialogue. Establishing and nurturing hope via attention to personalized RFL enables adolescents to conceptualize future possibilities and reframe their narratives from despair to potentiality. This reframing is pivotal in suicide prevention, assisting young people in navigating through their pain with renewed purpose.
In practical terms, clinicians can incorporate these findings by routinely eliciting and revisiting RFL in assessment and treatment protocols. This strategy not only informs risk assessment but also empowers adolescents by validating their intrinsic motivations and fostering autonomy. As therapeutic relationships strengthen through this process, treatment adherence and outcome success are likely to improve significantly.
Furthermore, the research calls attention to the subtle but powerful role of ‘small joys’ in fostering resilience. Simple activities or anticipated experiences, often overlooked in clinical settings, emerged as meaningful anchors in adolescents’ reasoned decisions to live. Recognizing and incorporating such elements into care plans could enhance the authenticity and effectiveness of interventions.
Going forward, this study sets a precedent for the integration of computational linguistics with psychological science in suicide research. It encourages further exploration of how language both reflects and shapes mental health trajectories in youth, potentially yielding innovative diagnostic and therapeutic tools grounded in real-world data.
As these findings disseminate within clinical and academic circles, they bear the promise of reshaping how we perceive, support, and ultimately save the lives of young people lost in the depths of suicidal distress. Personalization, linguistic insight, and hope-focused care stand as pillars for the next generation of adolescent suicide prevention.
Subject of Research: Reasons for living among suicidal adolescents and their linguistic analysis
Article Title: Reasons Why Suicidal Adolescents Want to Live: A Corpus-Driven Language Analysis
News Publication Date: 4-Sep-2025
Web References: 10.1176/appi.ps.20240332
Keywords: Suicide, Human behavior, Psychological science, Behavioral psychology, Human social behavior, Clinical psychology, Cognitive psychology
