Digital Stress, Perfectionism, and Suicide: Biological, Psychological, and Genetic Perspectives

The accelerating digitization of daily life has introduced novel and pervasive psychological stressors with meaningful consequences for mental health. This paper provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical review of the intersections among digital stress, perfectionism, and suicidal behavior, examined through biological, psychological, and genetic frameworks. Digital stress, arising from continuous connectivity, information overload, and the imperatives of curated online self-presentation, has emerged as a clinically significant risk factor, particularly among adolescents and young adults. Perfectionism, a multidimensional personality construct encompassing self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed dimensions, is increasingly reinforced by digital environments that valorize flawless performance and appearance. The convergence of these two constructs creates compounding pathways to suicidal ideation, planning, and behavior. Neurobiologically, chronic digital stress dysregulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, suppresses brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, and promotes neuroinflammatory processes implicated in suicidality. Psychologically, maladaptive perfectionism intensifies cognitive vulnerabilities including negative self-evaluation, emotional dysregulation, and thwarted belonging. Genetically, polygenic risk scores for suicidal behavior interact with environmentally mediated epigenetic modifications, including those triggered by sustained digital stressors. This review integrates emerging evidence to propose a tripartite biopsychosocial model linking digital stress and perfectionism to suicide risk, and discusses implications for prevention, clinical intervention, and public health policy. The paper concludes with a call for transdisciplinary research that bridges genomics, computational psychiatry, and digital epidemiology.

digital stress, perfectionism, suicide risk, HPA axis, BDNF, biopsychosocial model

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