Clinical work with suicide loss survivors: Implications of the U.S. postvention guidelines

Death Stud. 2017 Nov-Dec;41(10):659-672. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2017.1335553. Epub 2017 May 30.

Abstract

The loss of a loved one to suicide can present difficult challenges for suicide loss survivors (people bereaved by suicide) as well as for clinicians who would seek to help them. Building on the recommendations in the new document Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress after a Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines, this article provides an overview of clinical work with suicide loss survivors. It includes discussions of the common themes of suicide bereavement, the psychological tasks for integration of a suicide loss, and the options for providing grief therapy after a suicide. The article will be of value to caregivers who work with suicide loss survivors in counseling or therapeutic context.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Bereavement*
  • Counseling / methods*
  • Humans
  • Psychotherapy / methods*
  • Suicide / psychology*
  • Survivors / psychology*