Willem Hoffmann

"Being an Adolescent Suicide Survivor" Willem Hoffmann

Suicide is a tragic act. The real victims of the tragedy are the individuals who are left behind to cope with the trauma of loosing a significant other. They often struggle with unanswerable questions, self-blaming, stigmatisation and confusion. Very little is known regarding the qualitative aspects of adolescent suicide survivors' emotional experiences, meaning-making and coping behaviour. This book describes a study of the lived experiences of female late adolescent suicide survivors. It primarily uses a psychological-phenomenological approach. Data collection consisted of collage-facilitated face-to-face phenomenological interviews. The data were analysed according to Giorgi's phenomenological method. The analysis revealed three peri-suicide experience clusters ("Awareness of victim's suicide-associated behaviour directly prior to the suicide", "Immediate reactions on becoming aware of the suicide" and "Reactions in the days following the suicide") and three post-suicide experience clusters ("Falling apart", "Being shattered" and "Putting the pieces back together"). The analysis should be helpful to suicide survivors and to professionals in Psychology and Suicidology.