Making meaning of being bereaved by suicide: an everyday experience

Abstract

This autoethnography explores the experience of societal meanings of suicide from the perspective of people bereaved by suicide. The research focuses on three autoethnographic stories of everyday experiences in which personal meaning making and societal meanings of suicide intersect in contemporary Australian settings. Personal perspectives are positioned alongside broader discussions of suicide taboo to consider the implications for agency and meaning making. Key differences between conventional notions of stigma and structural stigma, and ways in which suicide taboo influences meaning making for people bereaved by suicide are explored. The paper proposes a recasting of action previously framed as internalised stigma as proactive self-preservation by people bereaved by suicide. It concludes by arguing that building capacity to see the societal taboos of suicide creates opportunities for strengthening agency in personal narratives of bereavement by suicide.

Religious meaning-making among Muslim parents bereaved by homicide: Struggling to accept ‘God's will’ and yearning for ‘Qayama’ day

“…Consequently, mourners often need to reconstruct their belief systems to correspond to their new worldviews in light of the crisis experienced [ 24 , 25 ]. The process of “meaning reconstruction,” which involves benefit finding and making sense of the loss [ 26 ] occurs most prominently after the loss of a child [ 27 ] and is essential when the loss was caused by a traumatic and violent event [28] , [29a] , such as a homicide [ 20 , 30 ]. Studies indicate that meaning-making practices may relate to religious and social aspects [ 31 ].…”

Under pressure: representations of student suicide in British documentary television

“…These reconstructions are then filtered through the researchers' perspectives and preoccupations, or in this case through the production and construction of the documentary into a narrative format. Carlon (2020) and Sather (2015) both emphasise that those bereaved by suicide are often expected to provide explanations when talking about their loss. Both Dying for a Degree and Death on Campus: Our Stories utilise the narrative technique of producing a timeline of events leading up to each suicide with parents and friends emphasising moments prior to their loved one's deaths where they felt something might have been done differently or where an intervention might have been effective.…”