Parental Bereavement After Suicide and Accident: A Comparative Study

Abstract

In what way is the bereavement process following suicide different from other types of bereavement? The participants were 30 survivors of suicide and 30 survivors of car accidents who were interviewed twice at an average of six months, and the second measure was taken at an average of nine months after the death, with standardized questionnaires to measure depression and grief reaction. Measures of shame, social support, family adaptation, psychological distress, and prior losses were also obtained during the second interview. All survivors were parents who had lost a son aged between 18 and 35 years. The results indicate that suicide survivors were more depressed than accident survivors at the first measure but this difference disappeared at the second measure. Survivors of suicide experienced greater feelings of shame and had experienced more life events after the death than did accident survivors. There was also a greater history of loss in parents bereaved by suicide. Parental bereavement after suicide appears to differ in several ways from other types of bereavement and appears to happen more often in vulnerable families.

The Impact of Suicide on the Family

“…Moreover, even when they are not actually avoided by others, survivors may incorrectly expect to be judged harshly by others and thus withdraw from their social networks, a process referred to as self-stigmatization (Dunn & Morrish-Vidners, 1987). Together, these problematic social network transactions may create a cycle of misunderstanding, avoidance, and withdrawal between survivors and their extended networks that only exacerbates the mourning process (Seguin et al, 1995). In recent years, suicide appears to be less stigmatized in many societies than previously.…”

Recommendations for Family Interventions Following a Suicide.

“…Partners who lose a loved one to suicide endorse more psychological distress and functional impairment than people whose partners die naturally (Farberow et al, 1992). Parents whose child commits suicide experience more shame than parents who lose their child in an accident (Seguin, Lesage, & Kiely, 1995). Mothers who lose a child by suicide are more likely to become and remain depressed than mothers who lose a child from an accident (Brent, Bridge, Johnson, & Connolly, 1996; Saarinen et al, 1999; Seguin et al, 1995).…”

Rising Youth Suicide and the Changing Cultural Context in South Korea

“…Li and Zhang's study (2010) also found that Chinese suicide survivors were more depressed than general populations. Similarly, studies in other countries revealed that young people who had exposure to their family members' or close friends' completed suicide, suicide attempts, or even suicidal thoughts are more likely than nonexposed peers to develop mental/psychiatric disorders, which make them more vulnerable to suicidal ideation and/or suicidal behavior (Brent, Moritz, Bridge, Perper, & Canobbio, 1996;Bronisch & Lieb, 2008;Lieb, Bronisch, Hofl er, Schreier, & Wittchen, 2005;Melhem et al, 2007;Qin, Agerbo, & Mortensen, 2003;Saarinen, Hintikka, Lehtonen, Lonnqvist, & Viinamaki, 2002;Seguin, Lesage, & Kiely, 1995).…”