Suicide Postvention as Suicide Prevention: Improvement and Expansion in the United States

Abstract

The authors asserted the need for increased postvention efforts for suicide survivors, individuals left behind to grieve the loss of a loved one by suicide, because they have an increased risk for suicide. Indeed, Shneidman (1972) asserted that suicide postvention efforts serve the dual purpose of assisting survivors through the grief process and preventing suicide for future generations. First, the authors briefly discussed the increased risk for suicide among survivors. Second, the authors overviewed the potential benefits of postvention programs and current strategies for suicide postvention in the United States. Finally, they recommended plans for suicide postvention program development such as states should include efforts to create or expand traditional postvention services as well as active survivor outreach to link survivors to these services.

Why We Need to Enhance Suicide Postvention

“…Shneidman defined postvention as follows: interventions to address the care of bereaved survivors, caregivers, and health care providers; to destigmatize the tragedy of suicide and to assist with the recovering process; and to serve as a secondary prevention effort to minimize the risk of subsequent suicides due to complicated grief, contagion, or unresolved trauma (Shneidman, 1975). Postvention efforts also enhance suicide prevention by providing behavioral health, psychosocial, spiritual, and public health services to the survivors (Aguirre and Slater, 2010). Each suicide, noted Dr Thomas Insel, former director of the NIMH, created 11 victims: the person who died and the 10 caregivers/ family/friends who are at risk themselves (Insel, 2014).…”

The Lifekeeper Memory Quilt: Evaluation of a Suicide Postvention Program

“…Complicated grief, in turn, increases the risk of survivor suicide thereby emphasising the importance of postvention strategies, such as the Quilt project, and raising awareness of and support for survivors of suicide (Aguirre & Slater, 2010). Further, the more stigma that suicide survivors encounter, the greater that grief is exacerbated and the need for support and postvention increases (Feigleman et al, 2009).…”

“…Furthermore, stigma represents a barricade to seeking support and initiating the healing process for persons bereaved by suicide, causing them to encounter animosity, judgement, and superficial support (Aguirre & Slater, 2010). In addition, individuals bereaved by suicide are at high risk of suicide themselves, and experiencing complicated grief can heighten this risk (Aguirre & Slater, 2010;Ram, Darshan, Rao, & Honagodu, 2012). The level of closeness one had to the individual predisposes the suicide survivor to an increased risk for complicated grief (Mitchell, Kim, Prigerson, & Mortimer-Stephens, 2004).…”

“…Survivors of suicide are subject to much more social stigma than those bereaved by other forms of death (Feigleman, Gorman, & Jordan, 2009) and this stigma may hinder the healthy progression of the grieving process and result in maladaptive responses to grief (Aguirre & Slater, 2010), such as complicated grief (Young et al, 2012). Complicated grief is defined as ''the failure to return to pre-loss levels of performance or states of emotional well-being'' (Prigerson et al, 1995, p. 23).…”

“…Complicated grief is defined as ''the failure to return to pre-loss levels of performance or states of emotional well-being'' (Prigerson et al, 1995, p. 23). Furthermore, stigma represents a barricade to seeking support and initiating the healing process for persons bereaved by suicide, causing them to encounter animosity, judgement, and superficial support (Aguirre & Slater, 2010). In addition, individuals bereaved by suicide are at high risk of suicide themselves, and experiencing complicated grief can heighten this risk (Aguirre & Slater, 2010;Ram, Darshan, Rao, & Honagodu, 2012).…”