Suicide and trauma
People who have lost a person to suicide are vulnerable to being traumatized themselves as the experience is so far beyond the norm. Intense feelings of grief can be more severe and last longer.
Common reactions
- Reliving the experience or memories of the death, including images of how the person died or of the moments before their death or how you imagine these.
- Having nightmares or flashbacks.
- Being on edge or keyed up – always “on guard.” For example, you may find it hard to sleep, concentrate or focus. Loud noises may startle you.
- Having more negative thoughts about yourself or the world.
- Feeling emotionally detached from other people and have difficulty in social situations.
- Increased irritability or angry outbursts.
- Avoiding people, places, or things that remind you of the person or their death.
- Experiencing dark thoughts, such as wishing harm to yourself or others
Strategies: What may help
- Be honest about what you’re thinking and feeling.
- Remember that everyone responds and copes with trauma in their own way, and that your response is a normal reaction to an abnormal event.
- It’s important to not avoid painful thoughts or feelings. If certain situations or people trigger your grief or trauma responses, remind yourself that this is normal and to be expected, and that it will pass. Talking about your experience with someone you trust can help you to feel less alone and move forward.
- Your experience and the way you choose to respond to it is unique to you, but you may find encouragement in knowing that others have found ways to deal with the challenges they faced with grief and trauma.
- Both grief and trauma have the potential to change you. Sometimes when old views are shattered, new views that offer new hopes and different ways of understanding the world are created.