Suicide Notes: Assessing Their Impact on the Bereaved.

OBJECTIVE

Although suicidologists have devoted great interest toward the importance of suicide notes, scant attention has been paid to their impact upon the suicide bereaved.

METHOD

To address this issue we conducted on an online survey querying 146 mostly American suicide bereaved adults who indicated severe emotional distress after their losses, 80% of whom had lost first degree-relatives.

RESULTS

We found no significant differences in mental health outcomes between those who received suicide notes and those who had not; nor were differences noted between those whose notes contained helpful or unhelpful information and those who had not received such information.

CONCLUSION

We also observed poorer mental health outcomes among the suicide bereaved who expected to receive a suicide note after their loved one died-and did not receive any communication- indicating needs for clinical support among this vulnerable subgroup.