Survivor Guilt

Abstract

Survivor guilt, a concept associated with the interpersonal process of "surviving" harm while others do not, increasingly appears in nursing, medicine, and psychology literature. Paradoxically, the phenomenon is rarely defined and often poorly described. Combining Rodger's evolutionary concept analysis with a comprehensive literature review, we explain the attributes, antecedents, consequences, related concepts, and surrogate terms of survivor guilt. A new definition emerged from the evolving use of the concept in new contexts. Survivor guilt is a valid form of suffering for which effective interventions need to be developed. This analysis extends the concept, laying the foundation for comprehensive treatment strategies.

What to Do with a Second Chance in Life? Long‐Term Experiences of Non‐carriers of Huntington's Disease

“…Furthermore, Williams et al (2000) mentioned that survivor guilt was a common experience in their study of ten non-carriers. A recent concept analysis of survivor guilt has divided the consequences into four main reactions: altered identity, altered relationships, mental health and physical symptoms and resolution (Hutson et al 2015). Among the participants in our study, we could identify all reactions except resolution (i.e.…”

“…An expression of altered relationships was stated by a participant who avoided contact with the rest of the family due to feelings of guilt. On the other hand, Hutson et al (2015) also showed that a person can successfully recover from survivor guilt by changing behaviour in a positive way (an example of altered identity). In the present study, one of the participants started to take a greater responsibility of her affected sibling's care and also exhibited positive changes in personal health behaviour.…”

“…Furthermore, Hutson et al (2015) describes the antecedents of the occurrence of survivor guilt: personal characteristics such as empathy or perfectionism, feelings of belonging and identification with others, sense of fairness and sociocultural expectations. The participants in the present study elaborated on the issue of unfairness towards the affected sibling.…”

“…The occurrence of survivor guilt in the context of predictive testing for HD has, to our knowledge, not been studied earlier. How to prevent and treat it when it occurs is also yet to be investigated, as emphasised by Hutson et al (2015).…”

The Shakespearean unscene: Sexual phantasies in A Midsummer's Night's Dream

“…37 In 1576, Ludovico Castelvetro produced a detailed taxonomy of ways to bring the complexity of all that cannot be staged before the minds of the audience: this included the 'web of incidents' leading up to the present; actions taking place at some distance from the scene, and actions made known by supernatural means (dreams or apparitions). 38 Shakespeare's rewritings of earlier plays show his interest in these new techniques: he frequently rewrote staged actions as what I am calling 'unscenes'-that is, hints, recollections, dreams, descriptions of events elsewhere. And while Anglophone critics have assumed 'reporting' to be inferior to 'staging', this assumption does not bear close scrutiny.…”