Suicide Prevention Month Blog
Active Minds at The George Washington University alumnae, Rachel Krausman and Amanda Uhme, joined Maggie Bertram for the first of three Suicide Prevention Month LIVE Google Hangouts. You can watch the discussion below and see responses to follow-up questions sent after the Hangout was complete.
Question: What are helpful ways people can destigmatize this issue (suicide/surviving suicide), so more people can share their stories?
Rachel: Talk about it. If no one is talking about it, there will always be that stigma, so the best and simplest thing people can do is to talk about it and listen to others who are talking about it.
Amanda: To echo what Rachel said a bit, I think letting people know that it's unfortunately normal to have lost someone to suicide and to feel things about it for longer than what might be considered a "normal" grieving period. I think a lot of survivors stop talking about it because they think it's shameful or because they think grieving process may look the same as with other losses. So talking about it happening to yourself or others allows people to feel that they aren't alone and there's nothing to be ashamed of.
Question: For Rachel - you mentioned you've lost other people close to you, not by suicide. For you, how would you describe suicide loss being different than other types of losses... or is it?
Rachel: It's definitely different, but hard to articulate how.
Amanda: I know this was for Rachel, but I'm chiming in. I think the implications that come with someone's death by suicide are so much broader. Emotions that follow the passing of someone from old age or illness or more "natural" causes are strong and varied by person obviously, but the set of common emotions that affect people close to someone lost by suicide can be so negative and tend to defy the normal stages of grief. Guilt, regret, anger, and blame are all super common feelings for survivors of suicide loss. They're simultaneously so natural and so misguided. And, left unchallenged, they can hang around for ages after the initial incident. *plug for going to therapy/consulting professionals/reading academic work*
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