Longitudinal Intercorrelations between Complicated Grief and Posttraumatic Growth among Suicide Survivors

Abstract

Background: Suicide survivors are prone to elevated risk for several psychiatric and somatic complications, including complicated grief (CG) and depression. Recent studies have highlighted the possibility of posttraumatic growth (PTG) among suicide survivors. However, to date, no longitudinal study has focused on the relationships between CG and PTG among suicide survivors.

Aims: In this 18-month longitudinal design study, our goal was to investigate the longitudinal bidirectional associations between PTG and CG, as well as between PTG and depression among suicide survivors.

Method: Participants were156 suicide-loss survivors, aged 18-70, who completed questionnaires tapping the CG and PTG at T1 and again after 18 months (T2). Depression was measured only at T2.

Results: The integrated model showed that CG-T1 predicts a reduction in PTG-T2 levels, beyond the trajectory of PTG. Whereas PTG-T1 was negatively correlated with CG-T2 and with depression at T2, this path was only marginally significant in the model.

Limitations: Voluntary nature of the participants; self-report measures; lack of pre-suicide-loss assessment.

Conclusion: The study's findings suggest that CG levels play an important role in facilitating PTG among suicide survivors, with high CG levels impeding the possibility of growth. PTG did not act as a coping strategy to reduce CG. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

Keywords: Complicated grief; longitudinal; posttraumatic growth; suicide survivors.