Antisuicidal potential of the person: theory and empirics

Over the past decades the problem of suicidal behavior has become more acute and gained public attention. The main reason for such close attention of society and the scientific community is that suicide is the second most frequent cause of youth death. Moreover, considering that some suicides are supposed to be the other kind of violent death, they are probably the first cause of youth death. The article deals with the problems of suicidal behavior from the perspective of risk factors and factors that contribute to the reduction of suicidal behavior, namely resilience and strategies for overcoming difficult life situations. Resilience is acting as a strong personal resource to resist the negative impact of stressful situations, as well as a component of the anti-suicidal potential of the individual which resists the threat of life. The paper proves that the components of viability are lifelong formations that can be formed during life. In addition, the article presents the results of an empirical study that show that the resilience level of suiciders is significantly lower than those of people who did not attempt to commit suicide. Along with this, in the rule of conflict resolution strategies, maladaptive forms of behavior are a strategy of avoiding problems and substituting as psychological defense (although they do it unconsciously). The results of the empirical study can be used as a basis for the development of preventive and rehabilitation programs.