Citation

Paesaaans C. Etudes sur la Mort 2005; 127(1): 101-115.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005)

DOI

10.3917/eslm.127.0101

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper considers the mourning mechanisms of a child following the suicide of one of his parents. It attempts to study, in a systemic way, the favorable conditions that will allow such a child to complete his or her personal upbringing. First, we delineate the specificities of mourning in children. Based on our study on post-suicidal mourning, we outline the developmental risk of this process on these developing beings. Second, in a systemic perspective, we approach the relational aspects of mourning processes within the whole family, thus broadening the ground of our study to the familial mourning field. Several interviews of adults who as a child lost one of their parents from suicide point to the fact that children who live in a " familial basis of safety " are better able to continue their personal development than others. Such a " familial basis of safety " involves the existence of supportive mechanisms and of solidarity between family members. It also requires a clear organization of the channels of communication, functioning rules and scripts that will allow the child to give a coherent meaning to the death of his or her parent.

Language: fr

Keywords

Child; Suicide; Mourning; Parent; Systemic approach