title: Viewing the body after bereavement due to suicide: a population-based survey in Sweden.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research on the assumed, positive and negative, psychological effects of viewing the body after a suicide loss is sparse. We hypothesized that suicide-bereaved parents that viewed their childs body in a formal setting seldom regretted the experience, and that viewing the body was associated with lower levels of psychological morbidity two to five years after the loss.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 915 suicide-bereaved parents by linkage of nationwide population-based registries and collected data by a questionnaire. The outcome measures included the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). In total, 666 (73%) parents participated. Of the 460 parents (69%) that viewed the body, 96% answered that they did not regret the experience. The viewing was associated with a higher risk of reliving the child's death through nightmares (RR 1.61, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.32) and intrusive memories (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.38), but not with anxiety (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.40) and depression (RR 1.25, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.83). One limitation of our study is that we lack data on the informants' personality and coping strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this Swedish population-based survey of suicide-bereaved parents, we found that by and large everyone that had viewed their deceased child in a formal setting did not report regretting the viewing when asked two to five years after the loss. Our findings suggest that most bereaved parents are capable of deciding if they want to view the body or not. Officials may assist by giving careful information about the child's appearance and other details concerning the viewing, thus facilitating mental preparation for the bereaved person. This is the first large-scale study on the effects of viewing the body after a suicide and additional studies are needed before clinical recommendations can be made.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Psychiatric Research and Education, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Clinical Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Pernilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Omerov
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Clinical Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Oncology, Institute of Clinical Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steineck
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tommy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nyberg
authors.affiliation: Centre for Psychiatric Research and Education, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Runeson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Psychiatric Research and Education, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Clinical Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ullakarin
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nyberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001601:Bereavement; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012042:Registries; D013405:Suicide; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult