Abstract
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death overall and the second leading cause of death for youth ages fifteen to twenty-four years old (Drapeau and McIntosh 2016). In 2015, 44,193 people died by suicide in the United States, and 5,900 of these deaths were youth between the ages of ten and twenty-four (Drapeau and McIntosh 2016). Each one of these deaths leaves behind a range of people who mourn the loss. Historically in the United States, the people left behind were referred to as suicide survivors, although recently the term has changed to suicide loss survivors. In this paper, we aim to describe research on suicide loss survivors, examine how many people are exposed to and affected by suicide, discuss the wide variety of people who are affected by suicide, and identify the ways in which suicide bereavement is unique. We then introduce the reader to the story of John Smith to illustrate the variety of children and adults who are exposed to a suicide in their family or community. The vignette examines the range of responses to suicide death and how responses vary not just on kinship but on the nature and perceptions of the relationship. Finally, the paper also includes clinical implications and considerations for clinicians working with those who have been affected by suicide death.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 76-96 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Psychoanalytic Study of the Child |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 Claudia Lament, Rona Knight, and Wendy Olesker.
Funding
Julie Cerel, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. Her research has focused on suicide bereavement, suicide attempt survivors, and suicide prevention. She completed her PhD from The Ohio State University, an internship and postdoctoral fellowship from West Virginia University, and a postdoctoral fellowship specifically in suicide prevention from the University of Rochester. She currently serves as President of the American Association of Suicidology and has also served as Research Division Chair and Board Chair. She is the author of more than fifty-five academic publications and coauthor of Seeking Hope: Stories of the Suicide Bereaved. Her work has been funded by the Military Suicide Research Consortium from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Defense | |
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration | |
| American Foundation for Suicide Prevention | |
| Ohio State University | |
| University of Minnesota Rochester | |
| West Virginia University |
Keywords
- Suicide
- bereavement
- clinical implications
- exposure
- relationships
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
