Suicide survivor

This article is about relatives of suicide victims. For people who have survived their own suicide attempts, see suicide attempt.

A suicide survivor or survivor of suicide is one of the family and friends of someone who has died by suicide.[1]

Given the social stigma associated with suicide, suicide survivors are often unable to cope with their loss and grief using normal support systems, and are "forced into a privatized and individualistic mode of grieving," making the healing process even more difficult.[2]

Estimates are that for every suicide, "there are seven to ten people intimately affected".[3]

  1. ^ Clifton D. Bryant, ed. (2003). Handbook of Death & Dying. Vol. 1: The Presence of Death. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. p. 345. ISBN 0-7619-2514-7. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  2. ^ Pisón, Ramón Martínez de (2006). Death by despair: shame and suicide. Peter Lang. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8204-6382-7.
  3. ^ Lukas, Christopher; Henry M. Seiden (1997) [1987]. Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide. Northvale, New Jersey: Jaron Aronson. p. 5. ISBN 0-7657-0056-5.