{
  "abstract": "Suicidal mental imagery – vivid, intrusive mental images of suicide or death - is common among young people experiencing suicidal ideation and may increase risk of suicidal behaviour, yet interventions directly targeting these images are lacking. We conducted a single-arm pilot study evaluating the feasibility, acceptability and safety of a brief, therapist delivered imagery rescripting intervention targeting action-facilitating suicidal mental imagery in help-seeking young people aged 16–25 years with mood disorders and current or recent suicidal ideation. Fourteen participants were recruited; 12 were eligible for the intervention and 11 (92%) completed treatment and follow-up. The recruitment target (N=25) was not met, largely due to service disruptions and clinician capacity constraints. Acceptability and safety criteria were met: 73% reported that sessions were not distressing, none felt less safe following treatment, and no participant showed increased suicidal ideation from baseline to follow-up. Two serious adverse events occurred but were judged unrelated to the intervention. Exploratory analyses showed reductions in suicidal-image frequency, realness, compellingness, intrusiveness and distress, alongside a 52% reduction in suicidal ideation severity. Our pilot study indicates that directly rescripting action-facilitating suicidal mental imagery showed encouraging short-term safety and acceptability signals in young people, supporting evaluation in a larger randomised controlled trial.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Lianne Schmaal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Georgie Paulik"
    },
    {
      "name": "Zamantha Munoz"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laura van Velzen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Pemma Davies"
    },
    {
      "name": "Martin Mitrevski"
    },
    {
      "name": "Eleanor Bailey"
    },
    {
      "name": "Phoebe Gleeson"
    },
    {
      "name": "Lisa Incerti"
    },
    {
      "name": "Samantha Galea"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9dkjpdgrkva5c.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/4ybzh_v3",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9dkjpdgrkva5c",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4ybzh_v3/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Psychiatry"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social and Behavioral Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3203|Suicide and Self-Harm Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214540739",
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/4ybzh/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-11",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9dkjpdgrkva5c.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:36Z",
      "native_id": "4ybzh",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4ybzh_v2/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "bepress:Psychiatry",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Rescripting suicidal mental imagery in young people: A pilot study of feasibility, acceptability and safety",
  "title_text": "Rescripting suicidal mental imagery in young people: A pilot study of feasibility, acceptability and safety",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:13Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9dkjpdgrkva5c",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": []
}