Surviving the suicides of significant others: a case study.
Psychological pain has been reported to be major contributing factor for completed suicide, and classical suicidology based its wisdom on this construct. In this paper we report the case of a patient whose family experienced a high number of suicides apparently due to an escalation of psychological pain in the family members after the successive suicides. We also briefly discuss the problem of helping survivors after the suicide of loved one.
Pompili
Maurizio
M
McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. maurizio.pompili@uniroma1.it
Lester
David
D
De Pisa
Eleonora
E
Del Casale
Antonio
A
Tatarelli
Roberto
R
Girardi
Paolo
P
D000368:Aged; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology*; D013534:Survival / Q000523:psychology*