Bereaved by suicide

Abstract or Summary

Parents and family members are often treated as experimental or observational units from whom information can be gathered and inferences made about suicide survivors (family of a suicide case). Collecting data in this way limits the knowledge about suicide survivors’ needs and how they can contribute to the suicide debate for the development of a suicide policy. It is not helpful to claim mental illness as the cause of suicide when the suicide rate decreases, and then claim that suicide is a very complex health outcome caused by many factors when the suicide rate increases. In this discussion paper, we argue that a suicide prevention model that places mental illness at the centre of the suicide debate only leads to a policy of ‘more of the same’, and will have little effect on suicide prevention and care support post-suicide (for suicide survivors). Furthermore, we argue that the contribution that suicide survivors can make to understanding suicide should not be ignored.