What is Thwarted Belongingness?
What is Thwarted Belongingness?
In the context of Suicide Assessment and Prevention it is one of the three corners of Dr. Thomas Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide.
If we thing back to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs the greatest needs are Physiological which amount to food, water and sex for reproduction.
The next most important needs are for Safety. The ability to have shelter from the elements and predators.
The third need is Belonging and Love. The need is to belong to something bigger than you and to be loved by an outside source.
In the 1960’s, Harry Harlow’s experiments with monkeys and deprivation clearly showed us what happens with an animal much like us, who normally grows up in a caring and nurturing family system, deprived of that belonging, love and contact. They went psychotic.
Belonging is a need which may never be completely fulfilled and forces people to go to great lengths for fulfillment. Some find fulfillment in religion, others in marriage and children and some in both. This need to belong can become pathological and this pathology may be the reason some people become involved in cults, like the one created by the Reverend Jim Jones.
When a person is unable to find belongingness, they often become despairing, distant and isolated. This can lead to thoughts of self-destruction, nihilism or even homicidality.
As Social Workers, our world view, the person in their environment, allows us to perceive thwarted belongingness quickly. We need to engage the client in assisting them in building more robust support systems and more individuals they can count on.
Without this social support and a sense of being a part of something bigger than yourself, it is almost impossible to find peace and contentment.
Without this contentment, the risk and likelihood of suicide increase quickly.