Talking through the Dead: The Impact and Interplay of Lived Grief after Suicide

In the aftermath of suicide, grief becomes a multi-faceted experience. Traditionally, this grief was silenced where the shame attached to suicide invalidated a person's need for expression. Even now, it can be difficult for people to fully articulate their grief, let alone find an empathetic audience. How do we examine this grief to more clearly hear the voices of the bereaved, and to better understand how to support those who are grieving a suicide death? Indeed, the ripple of suicide grief touches more than those traditionally considered to be impacted by the death. Whole communities can be affected and it cannot be presumed that researchers do not have their own lived experiences of suicide bereavement. In this way, the newly-opened discourse around the experience of suicide grief needs to be dissected within more practical and appropriate research. A balance needs to be created in research where the voices of grief can be included but the experiential context understood and respected

Life Will Never be The Same Again: Examining Grief in Survivors Bereaved by Young Suicide

This article explores existing assumptions about the nature of bereavement by suicide. Drawing on data from a U. K. study of student suicide, we hope to contribute to a fuller understanding of the uniqueness of bereavement by suicide and new pathways for grief research. In this article we argue that bereavement by suicide has a number of common themes and characteristics. Analyzed in accordance with Jordan's (2001) review, our data supports the idea that the thematic content of the grief associated with suicide bereavement is distinctive and guilt is a particularly important feature. We argue that no other type of death is likely to bestow this particular negative emotion on survivors in equivalent measure. Findings on the impact of social processes and family systems were mixed. Explanations to account for these data along with recommendations for intervention and research are discussed