Perceived Social Support and Mental Health After Suicide Loss

Oexle, Nathalie; Sheehan, Lindsay

doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000594

Cited by 34 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…There was consistent evidence that social support influences positive wellbeing, with three separate studies [30,39,44] measuring personal growth, stress-related growth and resilience. A study [44] with a low risk of bias found that increased personal growth was cross-sectionally associated with increased social support, and a study [39] with a medium risk of bias found that increased stressrelated growth was cross-sectionally associated with increased social support. Social support mediated the association between traumatic stress and resilience in a study [30] with a medium risk of bias.…”

Section: Other Psychological Wellbeing Outcomes (Eight Studies)mentioning

confidence: 71%

“…The similar constructs of grief, mourning, and extent of grief difficulties, were each significantly crosssectionally associated with social support in two separate exploratory studies [36,44], both with a low risk of bias.…”

Section: Other Psychological Wellbeing Outcomes (Eight Studies)mentioning

confidence: 89%

“…A separate study [44] with a low risk of bias found a significant positive association between a global social support measure and lower levels of suicidal ideation.…”

Section: Other Psychiatric Outcomes (Two Studies)mentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Four studies [28,34,35,44] reported a positive association between measures of social support and depression; two were at a medium risk of bias [28,34], one [35] at a high risk and one [44] at a low risk of bias.…”

Section: Depression (Seven Studies)mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…There was limited evidence that social support was associated with reduced risk of meeting the threshold for depression diagnosis or reduced depression symptom severity, with seven studies [28,31,32,34,35,44,45] measuring this outcome. The single longitudinal study [31] included in this review had a medium risk of bias and was exploratory in nature, but did control for baseline outcome measures.…”

Section: Depression (Seven Studies)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death

Scott

Pitman

Kozhuharova

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Aims Whilst any type of bereavement can be traumatic, bereavement through violent or sudden causes is associated with more severe negative health and wellbeing outcomes compared to other types of loss. Social support has been found to have a positive impact on wellbeing after traumatic events in general. However, this association appears to be less consistently demonstrated in studies that focus on bereavement, and the literature in this area has not yet been systematically reviewed. This study aimed to review the international literature to examine systematically whether there is an association between informal social support from family and friends after bereavement through sudden and/or violent causes and post-bereavement wellbeing. Methods We conducted a systematic search for quantitative studies that tested for an association between social support and any outcome related to wellbeing after a sudden and/or violent loss. Included studies were assessed for risk of bias, and findings were reported using the approach of narrative synthesis. The review was pre-registered on Prospero (registration number CRD42018093704). Results We identified 16 papers that met inclusion criteria, all of which we assessed as having generally low or moderate risk of bias. 15 different wellbeing outcomes were measured across all studies. We found consistent evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of depression, predominantly consistent evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and conflicting evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of complicated grief. Conclusions Our systematic review identified evidence to suggest that social support after sudden or violent bereavement is associated with a reduced severity of depressive and PTSD symptoms. Further longitudinal research is needed to explore potential causality in this relationship, widening the focus from common mental disorders to include other mental illnesses, wellbeing outcomes, and suicide-related outcomes after bereavement. There is also a need for consensus on the conceptualisation and measurement of social support. Our findings imply that interventions to improve access to and quality of social support may reduce the burden of mental illness after bereavement, and may therefore be worth investing in.

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Section: Other Psychological Wellbeing Outcomes (Eight Studies)mentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Other Psychological Wellbeing Outcomes (Eight Studies)mentioning

confidence: 89%

“…A separate study [44] with a low risk of bias found a significant positive association between a global social support measure and lower levels of suicidal ideation.…”

Section: Other Psychiatric Outcomes (Two Studies)mentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Depression (Seven Studies)mentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Depression (Seven Studies)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death

Scott

Pitman

Kozhuharova

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Are empathy profiles and perceived social support associated with depressive and grief‐related symptoms in suicide survivors?

Toffol

Aliverti

Idotta³

et al. 2022

J Clin Psychol

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ObjectiveTo investigate the link between empathy, perceived social support, and depressive and grieving symptoms in suicide survivors.MethodsScores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG), Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and the Social Support section of the Interpersonal Questionnaire were collected from 265 survivors. Relations were tested via multivariate regression models.ResultsLower Perspective Taking (PT) was related with higher levels of BDI score, and higher Personal Distress (PD) was associated with higher BDI, ICG, and PGD scores. Higher levels of Social Support were related with higher BDI and ICG (but not PGD) scores.ConclusionEmpathic PD and PT, and perceived social support are differently associated with depression and grief‐related symptoms. Empathy‐focused psychotherapies and empowerment of social support may reduce symptoms in suicide survivors.

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