Bereavement Experience of Female Military Spousal Suicide Survivors: Utilizing Lazarus’ Cognitive Stress Theory

Abstract

Reports indicate that suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record number of 349 in 2013. This figure far exceeds the 295 American combat deaths in Afghanistan in 2012 and compares with the 201 military suicides in 2011 (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2013). Some private experts predict that the trend will worsen this year (Miles, 2010).From 2008-2010, the Army reported the highest number of suicides (n = 182) among active duty troops; whereas the Navy and Air Force reported 60 and 59 respectively (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2013). The Marine Corps had the largest percentage increase in suicides in a period of 2 years (Lamorie, 2011). U.S. veterans accounted for 20% of the more than 30,000 suicide deaths in the United States in 2009. Between 2003 and 2009, approximately 6,000 veterans committed suicide annually, an average of 18 suicides each day (Congressional Quarterly, 2010; Miles, 2010). During the 2009 fiscal year, 707 members of the veteran population committed suicide, and another 10,665 made unsuccessful suicide attempts (Miles, 2010). Certain experiences of military service members (e.g., exposure to violence, act of killing the enemy, risk of injury, exposure to trauma) increase suicidal tendencies (Zamorski, 2011).For every person who completes suicide, an estimated 20 people experience trauma related to the death (NIMH, 2010). This suggests that from the 349 military suicides in 2013, approximately 7,000 people have experienced related trauma. Suicide survivors are family members and friends whose lives significantly change because of the suicide of a loved one (Andriessen, 2009; Jordan & McIntosh, 2011; McIntosh, 1993). Survivors of suicide may have higher risk for a variety of psychological complications, including elevated rates of complicated grief and even reactive suicide (Agerbo, 2005).It is also important to note that suicide survivors might not differ significantly from other bereaved groups regarding general mental health, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and anxiety (Sveen & Walby, 2008). Examining the impact of suicide on surviving military family members may provide important information on minimizing negative consequences, including possible survivor suicide.Military deaths are often sudden, unexpected, traumatic and/or violent in nature, and the family is conditioned to anticipate these types of deaths. In contrast, death by suicide is not anticipated and might not be handled well among military families (Martin, Ghahramanlou-Holloway, Lou, & Tucciarone, 2009). Suicide within the military culture is a traumatic as well as a unique experience. Service members and their families struggle with the visible and invisible wounds of war and the aftermath that combat deaths leave for the survivors. When a service member's trauma leads to suicide, the military community is less trained and conditioned to process the grief than when death occurs as a direct result of military service (Zhang & Jia, 2009).Stress plays a role in the grief process within the military culture when it relates to suicide. The chief identifying feature of military culture is warfare, which in turn leads to the claiming of human lives (Siebrecht, 2011). Siebrecht argued that bereavement can only be overcome if people adopt a more rational attitude and grant death its natural place in life. Association with the military ensures that most families will have to experience some form of bereavement and many forms of loss during times of war (Audoin-Rouzeau & Becker, 2002). Military men and woman are less equipped than the general population when it comes to their culture's acceptance of outward demonstration or sharing of the emotional experience of grief (Doka, 2005).StigmaHistorically, the stigma of suicide has been present in society (Cvinar, 2005). The biggest obstacles that families with members who have completed suicide confront are acts of informal social disapproval. …