Suicide Survivors Are Stigmatized and Vulnerable
The bereaved are at risk for a variety of serious problems
This article deals with the grief of people who have lost someone to suicide. It is not graphic, but the subject matter may be distressing.
Sorrow
One of my dearest friends killed himself last month. He had been seriously depressed for several years. He had tried everything, Everything. He was totally worn down. I wasn’t at all surprised. And yet I still feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. I miss him terribly. I see something funny and I instinctively go to e-mail him. I see anything remotely sentimental and I am reduced to a puddle of tears. I think about him a lot and I wonder when I will ever be free from this sorrow. These are all part of “regular” grief as if grief could ever feel regular.
I decided to do something “nice” for myself, because the combination of living alone, Covid restrictions, and loss had made me aware of how terribly lonely I was. I’m not ready for a dog, so I started with three goldfish. There was a tremendous outlay of cash for those little things. I got all the equipment. Nothing was too good for the little swimmers.
