The search for meaning and the effectiveness of logotherapy in individuals at suicide risk

One of the reasons for suicide, which is accepted as a public health problem by the World Health Organization, is their inability to make sense of life and therefore the thought and feeling of existential meaninglessness. It is thought that logotherapy, which is used in the intervention of people who have an existential or meaning crisis, is effective in these crises as it supports people to acquire meaning. In this study, it is aimed to reveal whether the logotherapy intervention has an effect on the suicide levels of individuals who have an existential semantic crisis and are at risk of suicide. The study, in which the experimental method was used for the said purpose, is based on the pretest-posttest model. Within the scope of this study, a total of twelve participants, six in the experimental group and six in the control group, were studied. The intervention in the experimental group started on 02.12.2020 and was terminated at 14.07.2021. In this process, a total of 75 sessions, including anamnesis, were carried out. No intervention was made in the control group. The follow-up study was conducted six weeks after the intervention ended. In order to determine the effectiveness of the intervention on the participants, the Suicide Probability Scale and the Meaning and Purpose of Life Scale were applied in the pretest, posttest and follow-up processes. Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests were used to test the effect of the logotherapy intervention. As a result of the research, it was seen that the suicide risk levels of the experimental and control group participants were similar before the intervention, but the posttest and follow-up measurements were in favor of the experimental group. As a result, it has been determined that logotherapy intervention is effective in making life meaningful by permanently reducing the risk of suicide in individuals at risk of suicide. Keywords: Suicide, Suicide Risk, Logotherapy, Social Work Intervention, Experimental Research