FSU suicide prevention expert Thomas Joiner highlights how connection and conversation can help save lives
Tallahassee, Florida – As Suicide Prevention Month brings renewed attention to mental health across the United States, Florida State University psychology professor Thomas Joiner is using his decades of research to help explain one of the most difficult questions in the field — why some people reach a point where they consider suicide, and what can be done to prevent it.
Joiner, an FSU Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology, has spent more than three decades studying suicide and suicide-related behavior. His work has helped shape modern thinking about suicide prevention, while his research continues to examine the social and psychological factors that can place people at greater risk.
The need for that work remains significant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48,824 people in the United States died by suicide in 2024. Suicide Prevention Month, observed each September, gives organizations and communities an opportunity to raise awareness, challenge harmful misconceptions and encourage people to seek help.
For Joiner, the subject is not simply an academic interest. His path into suicide research became personal after his father died by suicide when Joiner was young.
“I found it intellectually fascinating at first,” Joiner said of getting involved with suicide prevention. “It basically gets to a really fundamental question of the meaning of life. And then it got very personal, because my dad died in that fashion when I was a young person. I think it’s driven me ever since; that was 30 plus years ago, and I’m still at it.”
That experience has remained part of the motivation behind Joiner’s work. Over the years, he has become one of the most recognized researchers in suicide prevention, developing the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide in 2005.
The theory focuses on three important factors that can help explain suicidal behavior. They include feeling like a burden to other people, experiencing a lack of social connection and developing the ability to overcome the natural instinct of self-preservation that normally keeps people from attempting suicide.
The theory has helped shift attention toward the role relationships can play in suicide risk. Rather than viewing prevention only through the lens of emergency intervention, Joiner’s research points to the importance of helping people feel connected, valued and needed before a crisis develops.
“It really casts suicide as largely a disruption, a dysregulation, in relating and social relating, feeling like you matter to others, feeling like you’re connected to others,” Joiner said.
That idea is particularly relevant during Suicide Prevention Month, when mental health organizations encourage people to look beyond stereotypes and become more comfortable talking about emotional struggles.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline are among the organizations using September to promote awareness and encourage people to seek support.
According to NAMI, 5.5% of U.S. adults experience serious thoughts of suicide each year. For researchers such as Joiner, those numbers underline the need for continued research, education and conversations about suicide.
At FSU, Joiner directs the Laboratory for the Study and Prevention of Suicide-Related Conditions and Behaviors. His work has included extensive research involving military personnel and first responders. He has also worked through federally funded initiatives, including the Department of Defense-funded Military Suicide Research Consortium, which focuses on reducing suicide risk among service members.
After years of studying suicide, Joiner said the field continues to revolve around two fundamental questions.
“Why would somebody choose that? And secondly, what can we do to prevent it? Those, to me, are the kind of holy grail questions of the field,” Joiner said.
Finding answers has required researchers to look closely at the experiences that can lead people toward suicidal thinking, while also examining ways to intervene earlier. Joiner believes one encouraging development is that conversations about mental health have become more open.
He said greater awareness can make it easier for people experiencing emotional distress or suicidal thoughts to speak with family members, friends, health care providers or other trusted sources of support.
“I think an openness about mental health in general is really important,” Joiner added. “I’m encouraged that we’re making progress societally in that mental health fluency way, the kind of openness and literacy and fluency about mental health that simply didn’t exist when I was a young person.”
That openness can matter because misconceptions about suicide often make meaningful conversations more difficult. Joiner has pointed to several myths that continue to affect public understanding, including the belief that suicide is an act of cowardice, that it always happens without warning or that it is simply caused by drugs or alcohol.
One particularly common misconception is that suicidal behavior appears suddenly, without signs that could have been noticed by others.
“One (misconception) is that it comes out of the blue and hits people without much warning,” Joiner said. “It can seem that way, certainly from the outside, but I’m just not convinced that ever really happens in their true selves.”
Understanding warning signs and taking mental health concerns seriously can help create opportunities for earlier support. That is part of the larger message behind suicide prevention efforts: people do not have to wait until an emergency to start a conversation.
Joiner’s research has also strengthened FSU’s role in psychology and suicide prevention research. After more than 30 years at the university, he said his work is closely connected to the public mission of a state institution.
“This is a state university. I really believe that we’re beholden to the citizens of the state of Florida,” Joiner said. “They’ve been so supportive of this university and in turn, this university has been so supportive of me. I’m so glad I came here.”
His comments reflect the broader purpose of the work being done at FSU. Research can help identify risk factors, challenge misconceptions and improve prevention strategies, but those efforts ultimately connect back to people and their relationships with others.
Suicide Prevention Month serves as an annual reminder that prevention is not limited to responding when someone reaches a crisis point. Building stronger connections, creating space for honest conversations and improving understanding of mental health can all play a role.
For Joiner, decades of research have continued to point toward the importance of understanding human relationships and the feeling that a person matters to others. His work suggests that prevention is not only about what happens during a crisis, but also about what communities can do beforehand to reduce isolation and strengthen support.
People experiencing suicidal thoughts, or those concerned about someone else, can seek immediate help through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People can call 988 to speak confidentially with a trained counselor.
The FSU Psychology Clinic also provides mental health services, training and research through the university’s Department of Psychology. The clinic can be reached at (850) 644-3006.
As communities observe Suicide Prevention Month, Joiner’s work offers a message centered on research, connection and openness. The goal is to make difficult conversations easier to have, reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and help people find support before a crisis becomes fatal.
