WISCONSIN UNITED
for MENTAL HEALTH

Grief After Suicide

• Know that you can survive. Though you may feel you cannot survive, you can.
• The intense feelings of grief can be overwhelming and frightening. This is normal. You are not going crazy; you are grieving.
• You may experience feelings of guilt, confusion, and anger, even fear. These are all common responses to grief.
• You may even have thoughts of suicide. This, too, is common. It does not mean you will act on those thoughts.
• Forgetfulness is a common, but temporary side effect. Grieving takes so much energy that other things will fade in importance.
• Keep asking “why” until you no longer need to ask.
• Healing takes time. Allow yourself the time you need to grieve.
• Grief has no predictable pattern or timetable. Though there are elements of commonality in grief, each person and each situation is unique.
• If you can delay making major decisions, do so.
• The path of grief is one of twists and turns and you may often feel you are getting nowhere. Remember that even setbacks are a kind of progress.
• This is the hardest thing you will ever do. Be patient with yourself.
• Seek out people who are willing to listen when you need to talk and who understand you need to be silent.
• Give yourself permission to seek professional help.
• Avoid people who try to tell you what to feel and how to feel it and, in particular, those who think you should “be over it by now.”
• Find a support group for survivors that provides a safe place for you to express your feelings or simply a place to go to be with other survivors who are experiencing some of the same things you are going through.

• Find support groups in Wisconsin (HOPES)
• Find support groups in the U.S. (American Association of Suicidology - click on Support Groups)
• Survivors of Suicide Handbook from HOPES
  
• Additional resources from SAVE on coping with a loss
• Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide
  Important Points for Covering Suicide
  
  • More than 50 research studies worldwide have found that certain types of news coverage can increase the likelihood of suicide in vulnerable individuals. The magnitude of the increase is related to the amount, duration and prominence of coverage.
  • Risk of additional suicides increases when the story explicitly describes the suicide method, uses dramatic/graphic headlines or images, and repeated/extensive coverage sensationalizes or glamorizes a death.
  • Covering suicide carefully, even briefly, can change public misperceptions and correct myths which can encourage those who are vulnerable or at risk to seek help.