The Repercussions of Suicide in a Family
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The Repercussions of Suicide in a Family
Every year an average of three hundred-thousand people die as a result of armed conflict. Most will think this an obscenely high number. Shockingly, in 2000 eight hundred and fifteen thousand people took their own life, almost three times as many . This means one person kills themselves every 40 seconds. Eight hundred and fifteen thousand people that feel depressed, alone, and feel that this is the only way to end their suffering (World Health Organization).What these statistics dont tell us is the number of family members left to deal with the tragedy. Countless parents, siblings and relatives left to wonder and experience many conflicting emotions. Could it have been prevented? Perhaps they feel responsible in someway or even angry, feeling as though the person was selfish for doing such a thing. These feelings can be especially intensified when the loved one is a sibling, parent or spouse. Being a close relative to someone who commits suicide, even if they had been known to be suicidal can be be quite traumatic, and for a parent losing a child is never an easy thing. Even if one is not close to the family member in question they will still feel the affect the death has on the family as a whole.
It is estimated that as many as twenty eight individuals will have their daily lives affected by a suicide (Bland,1994). It is normal for members of a family to be greatly afflicted by the incident, and it is quite common for survivors to be distraught, and put in bereavement, the state and process of dealing with the loss of a loved one (Zhang, Tong, Zhou,2005). Though they are experiencing loss, it is possible that an individual may not show signs of grieving, or be greiving
at all.
Grief is capable of striking a person psychologically, socially/professionally and even physically. Mixed feelings of sadness and anger, disassociating with others or feeling alone because others dont understand what you are trying to cope with. In some cases family members develop depressive behavior. Besides sadness; insomnia, and weight loss due to little eating show signs of signs of Major Depressive Episodes (MDE), and if prolonged, potentially a disorder (American Psychiatric Association,1994). Due to the nature of a suicide family is more likely to develop mental and physical illnesses and puts them at a risk for suicide themselves. The possibility of suicide has been made very real and survivors may contemplate suicide. This is why a family must be sure to talk about their feelings with each other as they are all going through the same ordeal(CHMA). This is also an opportunity for family members to express each others worth.
One of the worst emotions felt from a suicide is guilt. That maybe they should have seen it coming and stopped them, or saw it but didnt reach out. Some will be so guilt ridden that they wont even be able to complete day to day tasks and will need to seek counseling to help cope. This can be quite the disturbance in ones life, whether they are in school, have a career or are a parent. Through counseling they may come to understand why it happened and learn to forgive themselves for what they once thought was their fault and how they can help prevent future incidents.
The exact opposite of guilt is also imminent after a suicide. Survivors will feel someone else is responsible for the death, that they more or less pulled the trigger (metaphorically speaking), and caused the person to kill themselves. The only person that can be held directly responsible for the suicide is the one who committed the act. In the emotional state that survivors are left in, it is easy to point fingers and blame others. A mourning spouse might find justification in incriminating their delinquent son, in the same way a daughter may blame it on a father who is never home, and when he is, mistreats her mother. In most cases these accusations arent true, though they may have been a factor, and are only brought up to try to find reason in a situation they dont fully understand.
As mentioned, depression is not uncommon amongst suicide survivors, ranging from slight emotional moments to a MDE, however, it is a fairly treatable mental illness. Anti depressants such as Prozac, and sleep remedies such as Ambien are helpful in relieving a persons symptoms, but also runs the risk of addiction (Mendick,2001). If on a tight budget these may be hard to access, which may make a recovery process harder on a family. At the same time a prescription drug addiction can lead down very dangerous roads. If someone is dependent on pills to keep them happy they may do things to make sure they continue to get them, and may explore other means of happiness such as excessive alcohol consumption and paraphernalia (marijuana, cocaine, etc). Depression must be monitored as the individual may experience suicidal thoughts as well.
Another issue families can be faced with is that suicide is not