Department of Behavioral Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer 40250, Israel.
The Lior Tsfaty Center for Suicide and Mental Pain Studies, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer 40250, Israel.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Oct 4;16(19):3740. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16193740.
Suicide often imparts highly stressful ramifications to those left behind. Previous research on suicide survivors (SUSs) has demonstrated their being at high risk for developing anxiety and depression, including pathological complicated grief (CG). Self-disclosure (S-D)--the tendency to share one's personal feelings--has been found to be an important component of dealing with grief. In this study, we examined the effect of S-D on CG in an 18-month longitudinal design following one hundred fifty-six SUSs. We found that SUSs suffering from pathological CG at Time 1 (T1) were lower in S-D at T1 and T2 and higher in depression at T2. We also found that SUSs with lower S-D at T1 had higher CG at T2. Using a structural equation model, we found that S-D at T1 contributed significantly (and negatively) to CG at T1, above and beyond the natural fading of CG over time. Our findings emphasize that while CG is highly prevalent among SUSs, S-D has a beneficial effect which can serve as a protective factor against CG for this group. Implications regarding possible interventions with SUSs were discussed.
自杀常常会给遗属带来高度紧张的后果。先前对自杀幸存者（SUS）的研究表明，他们有很高的风险患上焦虑和抑郁，包括病理性复杂悲伤（CG）。自我表露（S-D）——即分享个人感受的倾向——被发现是应对悲伤的一个重要组成部分。在这项研究中，我们在 156 名 SUS 之后的 18 个月纵向设计中研究了 S-D 对 CG 的影响。我们发现，在 T1 时患有病理性 CG 的 SUS 在 T1 和 T2 时的 S-D 较低，在 T2 时的抑郁程度较高。我们还发现，在 T1 时 S-D 较低的 SUS 在 T2 时的 CG 较高。使用结构方程模型，我们发现 T1 时的 S-D 在时间上对 T1 时的 CG 有显著（负向）影响，超过了 CG 随时间自然消退的影响。我们的研究结果强调，虽然 CG 在 SUS 中非常普遍，但 S-D 有有益的影响，可以作为 CG 的保护因素。我们讨论了与 SUS 可能进行的干预相关的问题。
