Australian families of long-term missing persons: Narrating their lived experience

Abstract

In Australia approximately 35,000 people go missing each year. Of this number about 5% are known as the long-term missing. Research in Australia and from overseas reveals that many of the long-term missing suffer from various mental health problems and are at risk of suicide. In fact, of those who are eventually found in New South Wales, are found deceased, most often through suicide. Yet, this cohort of people is often overlooked when discussing suicide prevention and postvention. This paper will report on a study of the lived experience of families with a long-term missing person. It will highlight the problem these families face when they live with ambiguous loss and a grieving process which is often unresolved. Narratives from the families will reveal that they live in the 'space between' knowing and not knowing what has become of their loved one. When the person disappears families begin to actively search for their missing person and internally search for meaning in trying understand the how and the why of the disappearance. In narrating their story retrospectively they are able to recognise the behaviours of their loved one which were symptomatic of his/her mental illness and the risk of suicide. The ambiguous loss they experience can lead to them being frozen in their grief. A lack of appropriate rituals to express the overwhelming emotions of living with a missing person means they are disenfranchised grievers. Living in that 'space between' reveals the cost factor associated with missingness and the ways of coping for families. These family members with a long-term missing person are themselves at risk of physical and mental health problems and other factors which impact on their wellbeing. The way family members express their situation is often not understood by health professionals and others. Greater communication between service providers for the families can assist in identifying those at risk of going missing and lessen the likelihood of a suicide.