Feelings of Blameworthiness and Their Associations With the Grieving Process in Suicide Mourning.

William Feigelman,Julie Cerel

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00610

William Feigelman, Julie Cerel

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00610

Copy DOI

Abstract

AimsThis study focuses on identifying the correlates associated with the emergence of feelings of blameworthiness associated with a suicide or other traumatic death and its associations with grief complications.MethodsBased on a mailed questionnaire survey of 575 mostly white and economically advantaged bereaved parents, 462 who lost a child to suicide, 48 to a drug overdose, 37 to ordinary accidents, and 24 to natural causes, we utilized chi-square tests, correlations and multiple regression analysis to compare and contrast patterns in the data.ResultsFindings showed feelings of blameworthiness associated with grief difficulties, complicated grief, PTSD, depression and other mental health difficulties among suicide bereaved parents. Results among suicide bereaved parents also showed that being stigmatized by socially significant others, having a mixed or negative relationship with the deceased child prior to the death and a less happy marriage, among those presently married couples, all contributed to higher feelings of blameworthiness among these bereaved.ConclusionBased on these findings, feelings of blameworthiness could serve as a good shorthand indicator of grief problems since it correlates so well with other grief difficulties and mental health problem measures. The importance of peer support is essential for avoiding the downward spiral associated with feelings of blameworthiness that can occur at any time during the grieving process.

Highlights

It is almost axiomatic in the bereavement literature that the suicide bereaved will experience feelings of guilt and blameworthiness following a loved one’s death
Typical of such viewpoints is a statement made by the Mayo Clinic staff which appears in one of their on-line grief support pamphlets aimed at helping the suicide bereaved
In this report, using existing survey data from bereaved parents we examine the variations in feelings of blameworthiness as they occur at the time of the death and as they may change at the time of the research interview; we explore which social demographic and experiential factors are associated with greater feelings of blameworthiness, among some bereaved compared to others

Summary

Introduction

It is almost axiomatic in the bereavement literature that the suicide bereaved will experience feelings of guilt and blameworthiness following a loved one’s death. These expectations of feeling guilty and blameworthy in the death are so widely shared that there are few researches probing into whether there are variations in these feelings from one suicide bereaved person to another and what might explain why some of those bereaved will experience greater feelings of blameworthiness than others (Cerel et al, 2008; Hanschmidt et al, 2016; Shields et al, 2017; Sheehan et al, 2018) It is widely known and accepted among clinicians and researchers alike that the suicide bereaved will usually be haunted by feelings of guilt, self-doubt about what they could or should have done prior to the death to avoid it, anger at the deceased and shame about the death itself that gives suicide its uniquely highly distressing elements for the bereaved, leading them to be prone to more complicated grief (Jordan, 2001; Cerel et al, 2008; Dyregrov et al, 2012). Despite this widespread understanding of the importance of self-blaming and guilt in the grieving process few studies have focused precisely upon assessing the impact of blameworthiness itself upon a suicide mourners’ grief

Methods

Results

Conclusion