NIMHANS Study: Impact of Child Suicide on Parents and Mental Health Professionals

A paper titled “The impact of suicidal deaths of children and adolescents among parents and mental health professionals: A systematic review and meta synthesis” has been published in the British Psychological Society journal Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. It draws on analysis of 25 studies to examine and understand experiences of grief. The study found that parents experience an intense and prolonged sense of grief along with feelings of guilt and self-blame after child suicides.

About the Study

The study was done by Cathy Roshini, Madhushree Baruah, Harshini Manohar, Bino Thomas and Paulomi Sudhir. Their study aimed to understand the impact on parents and mental health professionals after the loss of a child to suicide. The study tried to identify ways in which insights from bereaved individuals can inform strengthening systemic responses. The meta-synthesis included mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative. Thematic synthesis was done, and the final conceptual framework was developed through triangulation.

Results

25 studies were analysed. Themes highlighting parents’ experience are: ‘pervasive experiences of bereaved parents’, ‘making sense of the child and suicide’, ‘ moving on vs moving forward’, and ‘when support falls short’. Experience of mental health professionals is highlighted under the following themes: ‘ navigating grief as a therapist’, ‘client suicide: is a realistic estimate a fallacy?’ , ‘ surviving client’s suicide’, ‘holding space for healers’. These themes clearly capture how distinctly grief is experienced by parents and mental health professionals.

Conclusion

What the review found was that loss of a child to suicide leaves the family, as well as clinicians, with several unanswered questions. While parents may experience prolonged and intense grief along with self-blame, guilt, and persistently searching for answers, clinicians also appear to experience an emotional burden. Many parents may struggle with isolation and stigma, which may make them vulnerable to mental health issues.

Clinicians also feel the pain, as after months of therapy, a relationship is built with the child. Losing them to suicide may leave the clinician with questions like whether they missed something or what went wrong. All this can also trigger self-doubt, fear or blame as well as questions about professional competence.

The study highlighted the need and gaps in postvention. Postvention is the support provided to both parents and clinicians after a suicide. While there are a few systems, they are fragmented. For parents, the support ends with the child’s death, but the grief and guilt are still experienced.

For clinicians, the available support systems must be actively used. In the case of young professionals, they must be encouraged to seek guidance and not suppress their distress. Postvention must be flexible and prolonged. A trauma-informed approach must be used for bereaved families. Also, parents must be active participants in their child’s mental health care with open communication on suicide risk.