Parental Suicide: the Long-term Impact on Children and Young People

Abstract: This paper reports on a work-in-progress research project exploring adults' experiences of childhood or adult losses after parental suicide. Suicide is the violent and immediate severing of the parent-child relationship, and findings from the research indicate that family communication in its aftermath may be severely disrupted. The censoring of grief, ambiguity of stories told to the bereaved, avoidance of details and suppressing of grief are common threads. Consequently, the grief process may be delayed. The search for the why and how of the suicide, the memorialising, and the finding of a connection with the dead parent may take place many years later.