Understanding Family Member Suicide Narratives by Investigating Family History

Title
Understanding Family Member Suicide Narratives by Investigating Family History
Publication Date
2014
Author(s)
Ratnarajah, Dorothy
Maple, Myfanwy
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9398-4886
Email: mmaple2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mmaple2
Minichiello, Victor
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Baywood Publishing Co Inc
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.2190/OM.69.1.c
UNE publication id
une:16154
Abstract
The complex family environments in which a suicide death had previously occurred were explored in a qualitative study of narratives of suicide-bereaved participants. The participants searched for reasons why the suicide occurred in their family. Family patterning stories and the context of the environment in which the suicide death occurred provided an additional depth of meaning into the relational aspects of the family. Fractured families emerged as an important theme. Shared in the narratives were stories of conditions within the family that may have contributed to vulnerability towards persistent negative feelings about their lives, their family, and their future. The study also identifies the strengths of family culture that led to resilience in the suicide bereaved. These stories highlight the importance of support for those bereaved by the suicide of a close family member and the issues that places people in vulnerable situations that perhaps may explain the increased risk of suicide for those bereaved family members.
Link
Citation
Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 69(1), p. 41-57
ISSN
1541-3764
0030-2228
Start page
41
End page
57

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