Citation

Kovac SH, Range LM. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2000; 30(1): 50-60.

Affiliation

University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg 39406-5025, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10782718

Abstract

To assess if writing projects lessen undergraduates' grief following a loved one's suicide, 40 students whose loved one died by suicide in the past 2 years wrote on four occasions over 2 weeks about profound topics (e.g., events and emotions surrounding the death) or trivial topics (e.g., description of the previous meal). All participants completed pre- and posttest measures of grief and self-reported health visits, and 75% completed the same measures at 6-week mailed follow-up. As expected, individuals in the profound condition reported less grief associated with suicide at follow-up than those in the trivial condition. However, the trivial and profound groups were not significantly different in general grief or health visits. Writing about grief associated with the suicide of a loved one appeared to reduce suicidal grief associated with this event. However, this benefit did not extend to general grief or physical health.