Suicide: The Impact

Abstract

Experiencing the suicide death of a loved one, or someone to whom you are connected, is always a shattering and life changing event. For every death by suicide, many, many people are left behind to grieve. Yet, we have no way yet to accurately determine who (nor how many) people are affected by a single death, let alone those who are bereaved by more than one death. In the 1970's Edwin Shneidman, known as the founder of the suicidology movement in the US, determined that for each suicide death at least six people would be bereaved. Those who have known or loved someone who has died by suicide know from experience that this estimate is grossly under representative of the number of people grieving their loss. However, with no more accurate way of measuring the impact of suicide, this statistic is often quoted. In Australia, around 2200 people die by suicide each year. In calculating six people for each of these deaths, an additional 12,000 people are newly bereaved by suicide each year in Australia. It is important to note, that this is an annual addition to an already large population continuing to grieve - we know that suicide bereavement affects us for a long time after the event.