Is it Beneficial to suffer in “Suicide Silence”?

Whether it’s recent deaths or past deaths, when a loved one commits suicide, relatives, spouses even friends experience a  roller coaster of emotions including grief, guilt, and depression and we can fluctuate between all of these for some time. Research have indicated that some family survivors may have particularly difficult grief reactions (complicated grief) and that counseling can be useful for the treatment of blame, shame, loss and anger which are all symptoms of grief.

Dutch Psychologists recently discovered a grief counseling program for families bereaved by suicide did not necessarily reduce grief or depression, but may help to prevent perceptions of blame among close relatives and spouses. This research is not conclusive and therefore I would state that the effectiveness of counseling is by individual choice.

Counseling had no beneficial effect on complicated grief, suicidal ideation or depression. However, after adjusting for several factors, the researchers did see a trend towards reduced perceptions of being to blame and fewer maladaptive grief reactions in the counseling group compared to the usual care group.

The authors suggest that having a chance in counseling to inform relatives of the psychiatric context in which suicide usually occurs, and reflect on and acknowledge their loved one’s difficulties before the suicide, may have helped relatives to realize that they did nothing wrong, or that they did all they possibly could do.

 I will say it again “This research is not conclusive and therefore I would state that counseling efficacy is by individual choice”.

Dawn Pugh