Family Suicide Narratives: 'Sagas, suicides and sequels'

Abstract

Suicide and the events that may lead an individual to contemplate ending his/her life has been the subject of much research over the last three decades. Earlier research studies have reported on the societal, ecological and psychological factors relating to suicide. However, the role of family relationships in the history of suicide attempters or completers has not been widely researched. Nor has there been research that identified the differing grief narratives of the family members consequent to the relationship the participant had with the deceased. These grief experiences of the suicide bereaved participants have been coloured by former family relationships with the deceased and the other immediate family members. Little research has been undertaken into aspects of familial transmission of suicidality such as damaging communication style, destructive family dynamics, boundary confusion, problematic or inappropriate attachment, poor role modelling and lack of social cohesion or support. These aspects of family functioning colour the interpretations and meaning construction that the bereaved family members formulate in their grief narrative. The findings reported in this paper relate to the differences in shades of meaning in the grief stories reported by the suicide-bereaved according to their kinship to the deceased and the quality of that relationship.