title: Essential questions on suicide bereavement and postvention.
abstract: During the past decades public and research interest in postvention, i.e., support for families and communities after a suicide, has increased. However, the postvention field is still facing a number of important challenges and questions. This article aims to discuss a series of essential issues on suicide bereavement and postvention, regarding the current state of the art and future developments. Who is a suicide survivor and how many suicide survivors are there? Is suicide bereavement different from other types of bereavement? What are the needs of suicide survivors and what is postvention from a clinical perspective and from a public health perspective? Can postvention be prevention? With this last question, the article concludes with a series of recommendations in order to strengthen the potential of postvention as prevention.
authors.affiliation: Suicide Prevention Program of the Flemish Community Mental Health Centres, 9000 Gent, Belgium. karl.andriessen@pandora.be
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andriessen
authors.forename: Karolina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krysinska
mesh_terms: D001601:Bereavement; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D013405:Suicide