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Is It Possible To Adapt To the Suicide of a Close Individual? Results of a 10-Year Prospective Follow-Up Study

Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, P.O. Box 1777, FIN-70210 Kuopio, Finland

Jukka Hintikka

Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, P.O. Box 1777, FIN-70210 Kuopio, Finland

Heimo Vnamäki

Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, P.O. Box 1777, FIN-70210 Kuopio, Finland

Johannes Lehtonen

Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, P.O. Box 1777, FIN-70210 Kuopio, Finland

Jouko Lönnqvist

Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland

We conducted a prospective ten-year follow-up study on the consequences of a suicide among relatives or other individuals close to the suicide victim. Baseline interviews (n = 104) were carried out during the National Suicide Prevention Project in Finland from 1987 to 1988. Semi-structured follow-up interviews including the 12- item General Health Questionnaire and the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory were carried out ten years later (n = 64, 64% of those still alive). Mental symptoms were reported to have been common after suicide but they had subsided during three years. Mental symptoms had been common especially among children after their parent's suicide. At baseline mothers had had depressive symptoms more often than others, but at follow-up there was no statistical difference. Life changes associated with the suicide were common, and they could be unfavourable as well as favourable. At the time of the follow-up study, half of the interviewees felt that baseline interviews had helped them to adjust to the suicide.

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 46, No. 3, 182-190 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/002076400004600304


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