Suicide Survivors: A Guide for Those Left Behind

Rating:
Summary: Second-Hand Review
Review: My brother took his own life on 8/6/02. My niece subsequently read this book and found it extremely helpful, especially in its ability to make her feel understood, normal in her reactions, and less alone. That's enough to earn five stars from me.

Rating:
Summary: Second-Hand Review
Review: My brother took his own life on 8/6/02. My niece subsequently read this book and found it extremely helpful, especially in its ability to make her feel understood, normal in her reactions, and less alone. That's enough to earn five stars from me.

Rating:
Summary: Reads like a self-help seminar
Review: On Dec 1,...I came home from work to find my husband had hanged himself...Everything in my world came to a screeching halt, and I was numb. As there is no "Death For Dummies" book, I spent hours in bookstores trying to find information on surviving a suicide. I was desperate to find something that would help me process the myriad feelings I had, and this book was the best I read. I learned through this book that all the hurt, betrayal, anger, and profound sadness were normal, and that I wasn't insane to feel all of them 1000 times a day. Additionally, since grief can impair your cognitive functions, this book was very easy to read. For any person who has lost anyone to suicide, this book should be the first they reach for.

Rating:
Summary: Life Saver
Review: On Dec 1,...I came home from work to find my husband had hanged himself...Everything in my world came to a screeching halt, and I was numb. As there is no "Death For Dummies" book, I spent hours in bookstores trying to find information on surviving a suicide. I was desperate to find something that would help me process the myriad feelings I had, and this book was the best I read. I learned through this book that all the hurt, betrayal, anger, and profound sadness were normal, and that I wasn't insane to feel all of them 1000 times a day. Additionally, since grief can impair your cognitive functions, this book was very easy to read. For any person who has lost anyone to suicide, this book should be the first they reach for.

Rating:
Summary: Reads like a self-help seminar
Review: This book focuses a great deal on the illness that drives a person to suicide - namely, depression. Although that is helpful in trying to make sense of a senseless act, the book itself reads too much like a self-help seminar, full of repeated affirmations that the vicitims are not to blame, that they will eventually move on with their lives, and that things will get better. To me, that was stating the obvious but did little to help in the immeidate aftermath of the suicide. The book also speaks a lot about the rights of suicide surviors and that as a group, they have not formed enough of a coalition to gain attention and funding, as did MADD. At the end of the book, the author reveals that she and a group of other survivors have created such a coalition, so the feeling I got was of self-promotion. I was also a little disturbed by the assertions made in the book regarding suicide statistics without references to where the information was obtained. One caveat: The issue I read was published in 1990, so perhaps a more recent version has been improved.