Development and Evaluation of a Brief, Suicide Prevention Intervention Targeting Anxiety and Mood Vulnerabilities

The combined intervention will involve all of the interventions in the anxiety and mood risk reduction conditions and thus will not be matched for length.

The anxiety risk reduction condition will be a combination of psychoeducation plus Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-I) for anxiety sensitivity (AS). The psychoeducational component will focus on the nature of stress and its effect on the body. Interoceptive exposure (IE) exercises, designed to correct the conditioned fear to these bodily sensations, will be explained and practiced.

The mood risk reduction condition will be a combination of psychoeducation plus Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-I) for perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. The psychoeducational component will focus on dispelling myths related to burdensomeness and belongingness and describe their role in the development of mood symptoms.

Participants assigned to the repeated contact group will be assigned a "personal" study coordinator. The coordinator will contact them at specific intervals during the study. The rationale for these contacts will be provided (e.g., checking in on their status and helping to administer some brief measures). During the three weeks (corresponding to treatment session intervals for those in one of the active treatment conditions), the study coordinator will contact the participant once per week for a brief phone check in where suicide risk will be evaluated. Participants in the control group will also meet with their study coordinator during each of the scheduled follow-up visits.