Welcome to my website dedicated to the intersection of suicide bereavement and posttraumatic growth. If you are here, then you have probably lost a loved one, family member, or friend to suicide. Additionally, you may be here to participate in my current study: Posttraumatic Growth among Survivors of Suicide. I appreciate your willingness to participate and the strength that it takes to contemplate that experience as you answer the questions I am about to ask you.
Before I do that, please let me first introduce myself. My name is Melinda Moore and I am a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the Catholic University of America. Like you, I, too, am a survivor of suicide. My husband, Conor O’Hanlon, died by suicide in 1996. I am deeply concerned about why people die by suicide and how I can help them. Unfortunately, we do not have enough scientific knowledge about the experience and effects of suicide bereavement. We really do not know what helps or hinders those who have lost a loved one to suicide. What we do know is that so many people can benefit from this kind of research. According to the American Association of Suicidology, it is estimated that 180,000 people become suicide survivors every year in the United States and that as many as 5 million suicide survivors exist currently in the US alone. We must help each other.
I will add links to papers as my research concludes. Please visit this site again in the future to read the results of this study and other research dedicated to growth after trauma. I welcome your feedback and suggestions.