Addressing suicide risk in partners and relatives bereaved by suicide
Open accessAbstract
Analyses of population-based registers provide evidence to support an increased risk of suicide and mental illness after the suicide of a relative or partner. This editorial explores the implications of this work for progressing recommendations made in suicide prevention strategies regarding the specific support provided to people bereaved by suicide. Declaration of interest A.P. served on the Public Health England expert reference committee contributing to local guidance on commissioning and delivering postvention support (Public Health England, 2016. Support After a Suicide: A Guide to Providing Local Services) and has submitted applications for funding to investigate mediators of suicide risk after suicide bereavement. Since writing this article she has become a Patron of the Support After Suicide Partnership.
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Evidence is lacking that available interventions reduce suicide risk.
“However, the nature of indicated support in such recommendations remains unclear due to the lack of evidence for acceptability and effectiveness in reducing risk of suicide-related outcomes [3].”
From Support Needs and Experiences of People Bereaved by Suicide: Qualitative Findings from a Cross-Sectional British Study of Bereaved Young Adults (2018) · cites this paper as [3]
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- Authors
- Pitman, A.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pitman, Alexandra
- ORCID
- Pitman, Alexandra
- Venue
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2018-03-20
- Volume
- 212
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 197-198
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2789749979
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Keywords
- suicide bereavement, suicide risk, suicide postvention, suicide prevention, bereavement support services, population-based registers
- MeSH terms
- Suicide Prevention, Adult, Bereavement, Family, Humans, Risk, Suicide, Spouses
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