Parental suicide and its aftermath: A review

Ratnarajah, Dorothy; Schofield, Margot J.

doi:10.5172/jfs.327.13.1.78

Cited by 26 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Moreover, there is only a small body of research investigating the impact of parental suicide on children, with reviewers calling for greater attention to communication and coping styles and differing sibling responses in suicidebereaved families (Ratnarajah and Schofield 2007). Joiner (2005) addressed this limitation by calling for in-depth case studies of those who have committed suicide that includes family interviews.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational Suicide and Family Dynamics: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Case Study

Sandage

2009

Contemp Fam Ther

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A phenomenological case study of a family in which the father committed suicide following incarceration and an adult daughter also committed suicide years later is described. This study used an embedded design to triangulate multiple sources of data (family documents and interviews with survivors) within the study of a single family. Four themes emerged to describe the relational dynamics between the father and adult daughter: (a) Mirroring, (b) Caretaking, (c) Death, and (d) Suicide. Four themes emerged from interviews with survivors about their coping process: (a) Ongoing Grief process, (b) Media Exploitation, (c) Separation and Transformation, and (d) Forgiveness. Results are discussed in terms of prevention and family processes in coping with suicide.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational Suicide and Family Dynamics: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Case Study

Sandage

2009

Contemp Fam Ther

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“…Few studies have taken into account the stage of development at which the loss happens (Ratnarajah, & Schofield, 2007). Abdelnoor and Hollins (2004) suggested that, when the loss of a caregiver occurs in the first three years of life, children may experience more severe psychological difficulties.…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychopathological Risk in Parentally Bereaved Adolescents

Cimino¹,

Cerniglia²,

Ballarotto³

et al. 2016

European Proceedings of Social &Amp; Behavioural Sciences

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For a child, the death of a parent is a traumatic experience and can give rise to several difficulties during the child's development. International literature in this field has focused on clinical populations; evaluations of the psychological difficulties in adulthood have rarely been aimed at non-referred samples. The present study assessed the psychological functioning of a non-referred sample of adolescents, with consideration given to the impact of the loss of a caregiver during childhood on their psychological profiles. It also evaluated the association between the adolescents' psychological profiles and possible psychopathological risk in the surviving parents. Three groups of subjects (N=96) were considered: adolescents who had suffered the loss before 3 years of age (Group A);

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“…The latter refers in particular to the remaining parent's psychological resources, the level of communication within the family, and support from peers and professionals in the school context and wider social networks. The most common grief reactions, however, are a preoccupation with whyquestions regarding the parent's reasons for suicide, as well as feelings of pain, sadness, anxiety, blame, shame and guilt, but also abandonment, anger, yearning and a wish for the deceased parent to return, disappointment in the deceased parent, existential questioning and a dread of other unexpected losses occurring, such as the death of the remaining parent (Andriessen et al 2016;Dyregrov et al 2012;Cerel et al 1999;Ratnarajah et al 2007). Guilt and shame responses are particularly common among parentally suicide-bereaved youths (Cerel et al 1999;Hung and Rabin 2009;Ratnarajah and Schofield 2007).…”

Section: Individual and Familial Grief Reactions And Access To Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most common grief reactions, however, are a preoccupation with whyquestions regarding the parent's reasons for suicide, as well as feelings of pain, sadness, anxiety, blame, shame and guilt, but also abandonment, anger, yearning and a wish for the deceased parent to return, disappointment in the deceased parent, existential questioning and a dread of other unexpected losses occurring, such as the death of the remaining parent (Andriessen et al 2016;Dyregrov et al 2012;Cerel et al 1999;Ratnarajah et al 2007). Guilt and shame responses are particularly common among parentally suicide-bereaved youths (Cerel et al 1999;Hung and Rabin 2009;Ratnarajah and Schofield 2007). While guilt involves blame by the child of him/herself for self-imposed responsibility for the suicide, blame reactions have also been shown to be directed towards the remaining parent from the belief that the parent provoked or failed to prevent the suicide, and towards the deceased parent through feelings of abandonment (Hung and Rabin 2009;Loy and Bolk 2014).…”

Section: Individual and Familial Grief Reactions And Access To Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many parentally suicide-bereaved have witnessed suicide threats and attempts, as well as other stressors before the suicide, such as parental mental health issues, marital strife or legal troubles, much more so than the young parentally bereaved through other causes (ibid. ; Loy and Boelk 2014;Ratnarajah and Schofield 2007;Shepherd and Barraclough 1976).…”

Section: Individual and Familial Grief Reactions And Access To Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

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To mourn and resist stigma: Narration, meaning-making and self-formation after a parent’s suicide

Hagström¹

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Anneli Silvén HagströmTo mourn and resist stigma Narration, meaning---making and self---formation after a parent's suicide Printed by LiU---tryck, Linköping, Sweden, 2016 3 ABSTRACTGrief following a parent's suicide has been called 'the silent grief': due to a prevailing stigma connected to suicide as a mode of death, the parent cannot be talked about. This silenced or distorted communication complicates grieving youths' meaning reconstruction centred on the question of why the parent committed suicide -a question inevitably linked to queries of who the deceased parent was, and that ultimately triggers thoughts about who oneself has become in the light of this experience. Previous research has emphasized how vulnerable parentally suicide-bereaved youths are by categorizing them as 'at risk group' of social and psychological problems and even suicide. However, there is scant knowledge about how these young mourners perceive and manage their own grief and need for social supportknowledge that is essential from a professional perspective. The aim of this thesis is to use a narrative research approach to investigate what and how young mourners tell of their experiences in a variety of social contexts: research interviews, a theatre play and two chat contexts on the Internet. Since they actively seek to achieve something through their communication with others, mourning youths are seen as storytellers and social actors, rather than passive victims of circumstance. This thesis shows how these young mourners search for a context outside of their immediate daily networks where they can normalize and liberate themselves and their deceased parent from stigmatizing discourses. The possibility of narrating experiences in a de-stigmatizing context supports a renegotiation of how to make sense of the suicide -from a voluntary and selfish act, to an involuntary and desperate act caused by adverse life situations or 'unbearable pain' and depression. This knowledge is applicable to encounters with parentally suicide-bereaved youths in a professional context, such as social work practice.Keywords: Grief, identity, Internet, narrative, stigma, suicide, theatre, youth 4 SAMMANFATTNING Sorgen efter en förälders självmord har kallats "den tysta sorgen": eftersom självmord alltjämt är en stigmatiserande dödsorsak kan det vara svårt att prata om den döde föräldern. Sådan tystad eller förvrängd kommunikation försvårar unga sörjandes meningsskapande utifrån frågan varför föräldern tog sitt liv -en fråga ofrånkomligen sammankopplad med funderingar om vem den döde föräldern var, vilket ytterst också väcker tankar om vem man själv har blivit i ljuset av denna erfarenhet. Tidigare forskning har betonat självmordsdrabbade barns sårbarhet genom att kategorisera dem som en "riskgrupp" för sociala och psykologiska problem och till och med självmord. Emellertid är kunskapen knapp om hur dessa sörjande unga själva uppfattar och hanterar sin sorg och sina stödbehov -en angelägen kunskap ur ett professionellt perspektiv. Syftet med denna avhan...

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Parental suicide and its aftermath: A review

Cited by 26 publications

References 2 publications

Intergenerational Suicide and Family Dynamics: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Case Study

Intergenerational Suicide and Family Dynamics: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Case Study

Psychopathological Risk in Parentally Bereaved Adolescents

To mourn and resist stigma: Narration, meaning-making and self-formation after a parent’s suicide

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