Coping and Complicated Grief in Survivors of Homicide and Suicide Decedents

• NCJ Number: 214042
• Journal: Forensic Nursing Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 2006 Pages: 25-32
• Author(s): Meliss Vessier-Batchen; Dianna Douglas
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article summarizes findings of a literature review on research that examined coping strategies used by survivors (family members, friends, and/or significant others) of homicide and suicide decedents; the relationship of these coping strategies to the development of complicated grief is also examined.

Abstract

Findings on coping strategies were mixed, in that some studies reported greater incidences of maladaptive coping, and other research found that survivors of suicide decedents had greater adaptive coping responses than survivors of other manner of losses. Research also found that survivors of suicide preferred less structured or informal support to interventions by professional or government-sponsored personnel. Family relationships had the greatest impact on complicated grief for suicide survivors. Research on the coping strategies for homicide survivors found that some were further traumatized by participation in the criminal justice processing of the case, which they viewed as unrelated or harmful to their need for closure and understanding. Other homicide survivors indicated that their participation in criminal justice case processing brought greater understanding of events related to the homicide and more options for coping with their loss. Two studies found that homicide survivors have a need to find meaning in the deaths of their loved ones. Research that examined the development of complicated grief related to posttraumatic stress disorder and a measured intervention to aid survivors having complicated grief found that adults were affected more directly by the manner of death than were young survivors. The expression of feelings through writing was found to be a helpful coping mechanism, but it did not reduce the need for or the number of visits to physicians for physical and psychological ailments. Studies of survivors of suicides of loved ones found a lack of correlation between manner of death, coping strategies, and complicated grief. 42 references