This cross-sectional study explores associations between elapsed time since the loss and outcomes of main feelings surrounding the loss and self-regard among 187 help-seeking survivors bereaved by suicide. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine the aforementioned relationships. In examining suicide survivors' main feelings over time, this study found mixed results in early bereavement. This study showed that at 25 to 59 months of elapsed time since the loss, both fear and happiness were significant for suicide survivors. No significance was found before 25 to 59 months, suggesting a change in suicide survivors' main emotions following 2 years of elapsed time since the loss. In later bereavement (i.e., 5 + years), suicide survivors' experiences of happiness was significant. The aforementioned results suggest that following 2 years of elapsed time since the loss, this sample of survivors bereaved by suicide experienced a change in their grief experience.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (n.d.). Survivors of suicide: Living with loss. Retrieved from University of California Santa Cruz website: http://caps.ucsc.edu/pdf/survivors-of-suicide.pdf.
2.
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
3.
BailleyS. E.KralM. J.DunhamK. (1999) Survivors of suicide do grieve differently: Empirical support for a common sense proposition. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior29(3): 256–271.
4.
BarnesD. (2006) The aftermath of suicide among African Americans. Journal of Black Psychology32(3): 335–348. doi:10.1177/0095798406290470.
5.
BarrettT.ScottT. (1990) Suicide bereavement and recovery patterns compared with nonsuicide bereavement patterns. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior20(1): 1–15.
6.
BermanA. L. (2011) Estimating the population of survivors of suicide: Seeking an evidence base. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior41(1): 110–116.
7.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) Fatal injury reports, national and regional, 1999–2010. Web-based injury statistics query and reporting systems (WISQARS), Atlanta, GA: AuthorRetrieved from http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html.
8.
CerelJ.CampbellF. (2008) Suicide survivors seeking mental health services: A preliminary examination of the role of an active postvention model. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior38(1): 30–34. doi:10.1521/suli.2008.38.1.30.
9.
CerelJ.FristadM. A.WellerE. B.WellerR. A. (1999) Suicide-bereaved children and adolescents: A controlled longitudinal examination. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry38(6): 672–679. doi:http:10.1097/00004583-199906000-00013.
10.
CerelJ.FristadM. A.WellerE. B.WellerR. A. (2000) Suicide-bereaved children and adolescents: II. Parental and family functioning. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry39(4): 437–444. doi:10.1097/00004583-200004000-00012.
11.
Crosby, A., Ortega, L., & Melanson, C. (2011). Self-directed violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements. Retrieved from National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/definitions.html.
12.
DemiA.HowellC. (1991) Hiding and healing: Resolving the suicide of a parent or sibling. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing5(6): 350–356.
13.
FarberowN. L.GallagherT. D.GilewskiM.GallagherD.GilewskiM.ThompsonL. (1992) The role of social supports in the bereavement process of surviving spouses of suicide and natural deaths. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior22(1): 107–124.
14.
FeigelmanW.JordanJ. R.McIntoshJ. L.FeigelmanB. (2012) Devastating losses: How parents cope with the death of a child to suicide or drugs, New York, NY: Springer Publishing Co.
15.
GilewskiM. J.FarberowN. L.GallagherD. E.ThompsonL. W. (1991) Interaction of depression and bereavement on mental health in the elderly. Psychology and Aging6(1): 67–75. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.6.1.67.
16.
HoffL. A. (2001) People in crisis: Clinical and public health perspectives, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-BassRetrieved from eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
17.
HoganN. S.GreenfieldD. B.SchmidtL. A. (2001) Development and validation of the Hogan grief reaction checklist. Death Studies25(1): 1–32. doi:10.1080/074811801750058609.
18.
MaltsbergerJ. T. (1997) Culture and ego-ideal in suicide: An adult case. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior27(1): 28–33.
MurphyS. A. (2000) The use of research findings in bereavement programs: A case study. Death Studies24(7): 585–602. doi:10.1080/07481180050132794.
21.
ReedM. (1993) Sudden death and bereavement outcomes: The impact of resources on grief symptomatology and detachment. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior23(3): 204–220.
22.
ReedM. D.GreenwaldJ. Y. (1991) Survivor-victim status, attachment, and sudden death bereavement. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior21(4): 385–401.
23.
SharpeT. L.JoeS.TaylorK. C. (2012) Suicide and homicide bereavement among African Americans: Implications for survivor research and practice. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying66(2): 153–172.
24.
SveenC.WalbyF. A. (2008) Suicide survivors' mental health and grief reactions: A systematic review of controlled studies. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior38(1): 13–29.
