If you have lost a family member or other loved one as a result of a suicide death, you may find yourself dealing with an array of challenging issues. The same may hold true for other members of your family or other individuals close to you. Oftentimes, when people lose a person they care about as a result of a suicide, they find themselves facing the prospect of depression. With that noted, there are some facts and factors that need to be borne in mind when it comes to the death by suicide of a loved one.
Recognizing the Onset of Depression Following a Suicide
You may not immediately appreciate that you are suffering from depression following the loss of a loved one by suicide. You may not understand that a family member or other person in your life is suffering from depression in the aftermath of a suicide of a loved one. As a consequence, a review of the signs and symptoms of depression can be helpful. The more commonplace signs of depression include:
- Feeling sad
- Feeling empty
- Feeling hopeless
- Feeling helpless
- Feeling worthless
- Feeling excessive guilt
- Lack of interest in activities
- Lack of pleasure in activities
- Anger
- Irritability
- Feeling tired
- Lack of energy
- Sleep issues
- Difficulty concentrating
- Memory issues
- Difficulty making decisions
- Eating issues
- Weight gain
- Weight loss
- Thoughts of death
- Thoughts of suicide
Professional Support and Assistance
A person who is experiencing depression in the aftermath of the death of a loved one by suicide may want to give serious thought to obtaining mental health support and assistance. This type of mental health support and assistance can include:
- Engage the professional assistance of a therapist or counselor. There are mental health professionals that work specifically with people who are struggling in the aftermath of the loss of a loved one by suicide.
- Join a therapeutic support group. There are support groups guided by mental health professionals for individuals dealing with the aftermath of the loss of a loved one by suicide.
- Join a non-therapeutic support group. There are also support groups that are not therapeutic per se. These are groups that bring suicide survivors together to support one another.
- Engage a psychiatrist or meet with your primary care physician to ascertain if some type of medication might make sense for you. An antidepressant is best used only for a set period of time and not indefinitely. For this reason, it is wise to incorporate the use of antidepressants in conjunction with other strategies designed to address depression following the death of a loved one by suicide.
Depression and the Grieving Process
Depression associated with the death of a loved one by suicide may also be connected to the grieving process. The reality is that the death of a family member or friend by suicide can result of a complicated and challenging grief process.
When discussing the grieving process associated with the death of a loved one by suicide, you need to always bear in mind that everyone grieves in his or her own way. A period of profound sadness and even depression can be a natural element of the grief process of a person coming to terms with the loss by suicide of a person who was important in the griever’s life.
We have already discussed the possible need for professional mental health support and assistance after losing someone you love to suicide. Professional assistance might prove invaluable in addressing depression associated with this type of loss of a loved one.
A note does need to be made in regard to depression, death by suicide, and the grieving process. In some instances, a person needs to address the various stages of grief and death and dying before that individual will experience relief from depression.
Self-Help for Suicide Survivor Depression
In addition to professional mental health support and assistance for suicide survivor depression, there are also some self-help tactics you should consider employing. These include:
- Journal about your day and life more broadly
- Eat a nutritious diet
- Establish a regular exercise routine
- Find a trusted family member or friend you can talk to regularly
- Get a appropriate amount of sleep
- Discuss your feelings about your thoughts about the death in question
- Engage in activities you enjoy
- Grieve your loss in your own way
Suicide Cleaning and Depression
One way in which understandable suicide survivor depression can be magnified is if an individual is charged with cleaning up the aftermath of a death by suicide. There is no real reason why a survivor of suicide needs to personally undertake suicide cleanup. Rather, the wise and healthy course is to engage the services of an experienced, compassionate suicide cleanup company like Eco Bear. Eco Bear can provide thorough, safe, confidential and affordable suicide cleanup.