The Impact of Loss of an Adult Child Through Suicide

Loss is the most important precipitant of psychiatric disorders, and it seems intuitive that certain losses have a more profound impact than others. These researchers used four databases covering most residents of an entire Canadian province to determine the consequences to parents (and stepparents) whose children died by suicide (mean age, 30; age <19, 20%; 1415 parents) or in a motor vehicle accident (MVA; mean age, 25; age <19, 28%; 1132 parents).

Analyses were adjusted for possible confounding variables. Comparing the 2 years before the suicide to the 2 years afterward, significant increases were seen in suicide-bereaved parents' rates of mental disorders (by 60%), anxiety disorders (by 40%), depression (more than doubled), and marital breakup.

Pre-loss depression rates were significantly higher in parents of suicides than in 1415 matched nonbereaved controls. MVA-bereaved parents also had significantly less pre-loss depression than suicide-bereaved parents but showed a greater increase in depression afterward. Pre-loss, the rate for psychiatric hospitalization in suicide-bereaved parents was similar to that in MVA-bereaved parents, but subsequently the rate almost doubled; suicide-bereaved parents had higher rates in both periods for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Substance use disorders, more common in suicide-bereaved parents pre-loss, did not increase significantly afterward.