suicide loss

Community Voices

Ashley Kristoff @ashley-kristoff

Why we don’t say “committed suicide” and what you can say instead.

2 people are talking about this

Community Voices

Mayliyahh @mayliyahh_

I Lost My Best Friend,My Mother , And My World To Suicide When I Was 3 It’s Been 15 Years Mom You Left Me And I Really Need You I Love You💗

Community Voices

Julia @tryingtothrive

New to this group not to suicide

Hey! I'm a suicide survivor 3x around. I've had a family member and a friend pass away due to suicide. This happened in 2019 and 2020... I attempted September of 2019 after the loss of a bunch of amazing people in my life. Theatre teacher, my loving Grandpa, a good friend committed suicide and blamed me for it in her suicide letter, and the loss of two sweet pets. All over the summer of 2019. I had been struggling for years with severe social anxiety and depression. Mostly on my own too. But a friend urges me to get help and tell my parents about my suicide attempts. They had no idea since the attempts weren't that severe. So I did and that lead me on a 3 year journey of hospitalizations and partial programs and outpatient programs and so many therapists for various mental illness diagnoses. Eating disorders, severe ADHD, major depression disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, etc. It's now been 2 and a half years (I think? I lost count) since my last suicide attempt. I'm very much alive. Still working on my mental health and stuff cause I've gotten new diagnoses BPD and c-ptsd being most recent. But overall things are improving minus a few bumps in the road. Healing isn't exactly linear but I'm still healing. I've come a long way since 2019 when I attempted suicide. So yeah that's part of my story. Thank you for reading ♥️ #SuicideSurvivor #SuicideLoss

2 people are talking about this

Community Voices

Ikudayisi @ikudayisi

I’m ok/not ok

I’m here for my son (my middle child) who tried to commit suicide together with his girlfriend. She died and he survived. He went from being in a coma with a bullet logged in his brain to breathing through then the tube through his trackia. He’s not well mentally, emotionally nor physically and he’s in prison because he’s being charged with her death. My first born died 4 years ago still cannot even see his picture because is too hard for me to handle. My last born is in autism spectrum. He’s high functioning and very intelligent. Even though he’s come a long way from not having any speech and having 4-6 teachers per day in his younger years to graduating with a reagents diploma he’s my rock right now.

That’s the iceberg of my story. #LosingAChild #SuicideAttempt #SuicideLoss #Depression

8 people are talking about this

Community Voices

LKR @lkr_23

1 person is talking about this

Noam Schneck, Ph.D. @noam-schneck-ph-d

contributor

Survive Together: Suicide Loss Survivor Study

Why Are We Conducting This Study? In 2016, nearly 45,000 people died by suicide in the Unites States alone. For each suicide, somewhere between six and 20 family and friends are affected. Every year around one to three quarter million people are touched by suicide. Despite this growing need, there remains much to be learned about how people bereaved by suicide can grow and recover in the wake of a loss. During the acute stages of grief (i.e. less than six-months post loss) habits and tendencies relating to how a person thinks and feels about the loss develop. These mental habits can set the course for the rest of the grieving process. As a result, this represents a critical time period in which to develop a potential intervention. For this reason, the Survive Together research study at the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University Department of Psychiatry seeks to understand the thoughts, feelings and brain-responses that occur during acute grieving which promote long-term growth and wellness. This knowledge will serve as the basis for a treatment strategy aimed at helping people grow and thrive in the wake of their loss. What Can You Do? The Survive Together study presents an opportunity for suicide loss survivors to contribute to our mission of helping people grieving suicide. We are looking for people who have lost a loved one to suicide within the past five months. You can participate even if you do not live near NYC. If interested, please contact schneck@nyspi.columbia.edu for further details. How Does This Work? The human brain is equipped with resilience tools that help a person grow and thrive after painful events. However, not all people are able to respond to painful events in this way, and sometimes the pain is too overwhelming. Survive Together aims to identify the resilience tools that help people adapt and grow in the wake of a suicide loss, using a brain imaging technique called functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI). By identifying the brain’s resilience tools for dealing with suicide-loss, we will be able to develop treatment techniques to help people use their brain more effectively to find wellness, meaning and growth after losing a loved one to suicide. Please note: This study is recruiting until 2023, however participation is only possible within five months after loss.