Books
After Suicide
by John H. Hewett – published by Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA (1980)
For those struggling to cope in the aftermath of a suicide, this book presents the facts and demonstrates how to deal with feelings of guilt, anger, bewilderment, and shame. It shows how to live as survivors of suicide, how to explain the event to children, and how to reconcile the death with religious beliefs.
After Suicide: A Ray of Hope
by Eleanora “Betsy” Ross – published by Lynn Publications, Iowa City, IA (1986)
Starting with stories about what it is like to be a survivor of the suicide of someone you love, it is a self-help guide to recovery for the survivor. A culmination of 25 years of personal experience as a suicide survivor, as leader of a grief support group, and as founder of Ray of Hope, Inc., in 1977. Besides covering the immediate aftermath of the suicide, the book helps to understand both the many aspects of the situation leading up to the suicide and the complicated process of recovery. It touches on such topics as addiction, abuse, neglect, and depression, as well as self-examination, spirituality and personal growth. It has many practical suggestions about what to do and not to do, what to say and not to say, how to help oneself, how to help children, etc.
After Suicide Loss: Coping with Your Grief
by Bob Baugher, Ph.D. and Jack Jordan, Ph.D. – published by Sturbridge Group (2002)
This book for people who have lost a loved one to suicide is written by two experienced grief counselors. Designed to provide support and information through the first year of grief, it is organized chronologically, with sections on the first few days, few weeks, few months, and beyond the first year.
Additional information available at: Sturbridge Group
After A Parents Suicide: helping children heal
by Margo Requarth – published by Healing Hearts Press (2006)
The premature death of a parent can be devastating for young children—with the consequences far more profound when the parent dies by suicide. Amidst the resulting grief, turmoil and confusion, the surviving parent is faced with the monumental task of tending to the emotional lives of the children left behind.
Additional information available at: Healing Hearts Press
Andrew, You Died Too Soon
by Corinne Chilstrom – published by Augsburg Fortress (1993)
In the most simple, straightforward language, this mother tells the heart’s story: the love for her son which had to continue without that son; the embrace of speechless grief and of a murmuring, speaking community; the deep, spiritual events that occurred for her and her family when one son took his life.
Breaking the Silence
by Mariette Hartley – published by Mass Market, NY (1991)
This sensitive and witty actress has written openly and honestly. After Mariette’s father died by gunshot, she and her mother kept his suicide a secret for years. Once Mariette told her story she became “the spokesperson for suicide survivors” telling her poignant story over and over to help survivors and to promote the prevention of suicide.
Coping with Suicide
by Maggie Helen – published by Sheldon Press (2002)
When someone you love takes their own life, it can be almost impossible to take in. Other people may be embarrassed or disapproving and support can be hard to find. Coping with Suicide offers those who are left behind – ‘the suicide survivors’ – insight into their grieving and guidance to the help available.
Dead Reckoning: A Therapist Confronts His Own Grief
by David C. Treadway, Ph.D. – published by Basic Books, NY (1996)
David’s mother died by suicide and now David writes about his journey of grief after 27 years of avoidance. A profound and moving memoir revealing the many layers of pain and denial that can build up in a family after a suicide. The author finds the courage to face his ghosts, take off his protective layers and reconnect with his family.
Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me
by Doug Manning – published by In-Sight Books (1979)
A warm, consoling, practical guidance to help the bereaved cope with emotions, confront decisions, and learn to live again. Gently, with warm, consoling, and practical guidance, Doug Manning addresses the painful, often disorientation aftermath of the death of a loved one, helping the bereaved cope with the emotions and confront the decisions that are an inevitable part of this time of radical life adjustment. He helps readers face up to grief, move through it, and learn to live again. The author provides thoughtful advice for rebuilding a grief-shattered life while taking to heart the valuable lessons death and mourning impart to everyone.
Finding Your Way After the Suicide of Someone You Love
by David B. Biebel & Suzanne L. Foster – published by Zondervon (2005)
This uniquely designed resource for those left behind after a suicide (loved ones, friends, siblings, and extended family) provides encouraging, practical help and hope. Also includes features designed for SOS support groups, pastors, Christian counselors, and church leaders with the goal of helping the church function more fully as the healing community it could be for the survivors of suicide in its midst.
From the Back Cover
Do real Christians commit suicide? Yes, they do. And for those left behind, the journey following such a tragedy is unbearably painful. This unique guidebook points the way through and beyond the lonely wilderness and addresses head-on the intensely personal issues of survivors of suicide (SOS). Questions of faith are examined honestly, with a focus on what God’s Word has to say about suicide. The book explores the character of God, affirming his love, from which nothing can separate a believer. The book helps survivors know what to expect, especially during the first year following the suicide. It includes many personal stories of survivors, along with their suggestions on how to get beyond survival to life again. It is designed for use by individuals, couples and the growing number of SOS support groups nationwide. This gentle resource offers help for friends, siblings, and extended family, as well as practical guidelines and suggestions for pastors, Christians counselors, and other church leaders.
Forgive & Forget: Healing The Hurts We Don’t Deserve
by Lewis B. Smedes – published by Pocket Books (1984)
One of the most difficult struggles in managing conflict is practicing forgiveness. There are many well-written works on this subject, but few match the realism and sensitivity by Lewis Smedes. The work, “Forgive and Forget”, is a classic on the subject. Mr. Smedes includes in his book: – The four stages of forgiving – Forgiving people who are hard to forgive – How people forgive – Why forgive? It is a thoughtful and insightful study of the only true medicine for our deepest wounds: Forgiveness. It appeals not only to the mind but also to the spirit. It is a wonderful companion for anyone who is suffering the loss of a cherished relationship, unable to reconcile the injustice or futility of such loss. It will give help as well as comfort to those who read it, and help to understand that forgiveness can be not only a possibility but a reality.
Grieving a Suicide – A Loved One’s Search for Comfort, Answers, & Hope
by Albert Y. Hsu – published by InterVarsity Press (1972)
After his father’s death by suicide, Albert Hsu wrestled with the intense emotional and spiritual questions surrounding suicide. While acknowledging that there are no easy answers, Hsu draws on the resources of the Christian faith to point suicide survivors to the God who offers comfort in our grief and hope for the future. If you have lost a loved one to suicide or provide pastoral care to those left behind, this book is an essential companion for the journey toward healing.
Healing After The Suicide of a Loved One
by Ann Smolin & John Guinan – published by Simon & Schuster (1993)
A very informative book that provides suicide survivors with insights into the emotional responses they may be experiencing. The authors are direct and honest as they offer support, hope, and permission to go on with life.
Helping Children Cope With Grief
by Alan Wolfelt – published by Accelerated Development, Inc. (1983)
This book is written for parents, teachers, and counselors who have both a desire and a commitment to help children when they experience a death.
How To Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies
by Therese A. Rando – published by Lexington Books (1988)
Mourning the death of a loved one is a process all of us will go through at one time or another. But wherever the death is sudden or anticipated, few of us are prepared for it or for the grief it brings. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, there is no way around the pain of loss, but there is a way through it. Each person’s response to loss will be different. In this compassionate, comprehensive guide, your are lead gently through the painful but necessary process of grieving and helps you find the best way for yourself. It offers help to anyone who has survived the pain of this kind of loss and is trying to adjust to a new world without their loved one.
How To Survive The Loss Of A Love
by Colgrove, Bloomfield, McWilliams – published by Prelude Press (1991)
One of the most directly helpful books on the subject of loss ever written, it helps one to cope up with life’s worst encounters. It provides support for anyone who is experiencing grief related to a loss, including the death of a loved one and the breakup of a relationship. A nice thing about this book is its unique, easy-to-read format: the chapters are written in outline form, and each chapter is just 1-2 pages long and printed on the left-hand sides of the pages only. The right-hand side pages contain poems, quotes, and sayings offering comfort as well as inspiration. This book will help you to feel that you are not along as you begin to cope with your loss.
Living Through Personal Crisis
by Ann Kaiser Sterns – published by Ballantine Books (1985)
A self-help book written for those who have to deal with loss and trauma, and their families. Explains what you may be feeling both physically and emotionally and ways to help yourself heal. In this invaluable book, a noted professor of psychology explains how grief, as agonizing as it may be, is a natural response to life’s tragedies that helps us along through anger and isolation to a lasting healing process. Professional yet compassionate, drawn from actual case histories as well as the author’s own experience of living through personal crisis, it provides comforting guidance and practical day-to-day advice for those who suffer–and loved ones and friends who care.
Mourning After Suicide
by Lois Bloom – published by The Pilgrim Press (1987)
The author lost her son to suicide. This easy to read 24 page booklet is an excellant introduction for someone newly bereaved. It normalizes the grief and the reference to spirituality is gentle and non-invasive.
My Son, My Son: A Guide To Healing After A Suicide In The Family
by Iris Bolton – published by Bolton Press, 1090 Crest Brook Lane, Roswell, GA 30075
Phone: 770-645-1886. (1983)
A therapist shares the story of the suicide of her son; a compelling, powerful and informative book about suicide, grief, survival, and hope that will profoundly touch the heart and provide new insights for every reader.
Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide
by Kay Redfield Jamison – published by Knopf (1999)
After years of struggling with manic-depression, Dr. Jamison tried – at age twenty-eight – to kill herself. Now she brings all of her knowledge and research to bear on this devastating problem. This book helps us to understand the suicidal mind, to recognize and come to the aid of those at risk, and to comprehend the profound effects on those left behind.
No Time To Say Goodbye, Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One
by Carla Fine – published by Doubleday (1997)
The author shares her own journey of grief following the suicide death of her physician husband and she also integrates the voices of others who have endured the desolation of a loved one’s suicide.
Roses In December
by Marilyn Willett Heavilin – published by Thomas Nelson (1993)
Written with deep compassion and empathy, the author reaches out to help those who are grieving find God’s comfort. Having lost three sons, she knows the tremendous sorrows and struggles that come with the death of a loved one. Yet she shares how even in the winters of our lives God provided roses – special occasions, special people, and special memories – to give us strength to persevere and draw close to Him. This book will help you understand the grieving process, support family members, give insight into sibling grief during this difficult time. You’ll discover there are roses in December.
Seven Choices
by Elizabeth Harper Neeld, Ph.D. – published by Delta )1990)
In this ground-breaking book, Elizabeth Harper Neeld describes the steps each of us can take to find a new balance for our lives after experiencing death, divorce, illness, as well as grief, loss and change of any kind. This book maps the complete grieving and change process and provides a way to respond to change by identifying seven positive choices that lead to a “new normal.” These positive choices bring healing and stability and show how to avoid getting stuck in mourning, anger, bitterness and sadness.
Song of Joy – A Guide to Recovery from Sorrow
by Brenda Layman – published by AuthorHouse (2006)
“It doesn’t have to be easy, it just has to be possible.” These are the words Brenda Layman spoke when she determined to heal her life after the suicide of her fourteen-year-old daughter. Brenda’s journey led her from the depths of grief to a new understanding of the power we have to minister to one another and to help bring about healing in even the most painful circumstances.
Stronger Than Death: When Suicide Touches Your Life
by Sue Chance – published by Avon Books (1992)
A psychiatrist shares the life and suicide death of her only child and her personal struggle to cope with this tragic event.
Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Postvention
by Earl Grollman – published by Beacon Press (1988)
Offers advice on how to recognize the warning signs of potential suicide attempt, how to intervene when a suicide has been attempted, and how to comfort families and friends who have lost a loved one to suicide.
Suicide: Survivors: A Guide For Those Left Behind
by Adina Wrobleski – published by Afterwords (1994)
Helpful and insightful information for suicide survivors – honest, open, and easy to read. It is probably one of the best, most accurate, books ever published on suicide/suicide grief. Adina Wrobleski is an expert on suicide, having spent many years studying the subject, after her daughter died by suicide. Reading this book might be a good “first step” for someone beginning the arduous journey of trying to work through suicide grief.
Survivors of Suicide
by Rita Robinson – published by Newcastle Publishing Co. (1989)
Survivors of Suicide is a helping guide for those family and friends left behind when a loved one commits suicide. This newly revised edition goes into more detail about teen suicide and the help that is available, and dispels the myths surrounding suicide.
The Bereaved Parent
by Harriet Sarnoff Schiff – published by Penguin Books (1977)
This is the classic book for parents whose child has died – and for all those who want to help them. Many such parents feel that no one can help because no one can understand the complex ramifications of their tragedy, the exhaustion, the quarrels with mates, the sleeplessness, the panic, the inertia, the horror of laughter – all the seemingly endless aftermath of sorrow and despair. Yet, because she herself is a bereaved parent, the author is able to give genuine comfort. If you have lost a child, you know that pain like yours cannot be erased, and she does not attempt to do so. Instead, she offers guidelines and practical step-by-step suggestions to help you cope with every stage. Her book will convince you that you, too, can find your way back to the land of the living.
The Courage To Grieve
by Judy Tatelbaum – published by Harper & Row (1980)
This unusual self-help book about surviving grief offers comfort, inspiration, and provides the specific help we need to enable us to face our grief fully and to recover and grow from the experience. The author gives us a fresh look at understanding grief, showing us that grief is a natural, inevitable human experience, including all the unexpected, intense and uncomfortable emotions like sorrow, guilt, loneliness, resentment, confusion, or even the temporary loss of the will to live. The emphasis is to clarify and offer help, and the tone is spiritual, optimistic, creative and easy to understand. She provides excellent advice on how to help oneself and others get through the immediate experience of death and the grief that follows, as well as how to understand the special grief of children. Particularly useful are the techniques for completing or “finishing” grief–counteracting the popular misconception that grief never ends. The Courage to Grieve shows us how to live life with the ultimate courage: not fearing death. This book is about so much more than death and grieving – it is about life and joy and growth.
The Grief Recovery Handbook
by James & Friedman – published by HarperCollins (1998)
Incomplete recovery from grief can have a lifelong negative effect on your capacity for happiness. Drawing from their own histories, as well as from others, the authors illustrate what grief is and how it is possible to recover, regain energy and spontaneity. Based on a proven program, this life-changing handbook offers the specific actions needed to complete the grieving process and accept the loss.
The Suicide Of My Son
by Trudy Carlson – published by Benline Press (1995)
After the suicide death of her teenage son Ben, Trudy Carlson sheds light into the little-understood symptoms of depressive illness and anxiety disorders in youngsters. She explains the biological nature of these conditions, and maps out a low-cost, effective school based program for recognizing and treating school-aged youth. The correlation between depressive illness and teen suicide is examined.
Transcending Loss
by Ashely Davis Prend – published by Berkley Books (1997)
An inspiring new approach to the lifelong process of grieving. The author asserts that death doesn’t end the relationship, it simply forges a new type of relationship — one based not on physical presence but on memory, spirit, and love. The author helps grievers deal with the ongoing impact of their loss — and the attempt to transcend it. While most books often focus on crisis management and imply that there is an ‘end’ to mourning, they essentially fail to address the issue of grief’s ongoing impact, and how it changes through the years. This is a book about death and grief, yes, but more importantly it is a book about love, hope and shows that over time, you can learn to transcend even in spite of pain. We all get broken by life sooner or later because loss is the price we pay for living and loving. But experience shows that we can become stronger at the broken places and find the opportunity in crisis. This book will help you move beyond grief and will guide you on your journey through time of healing and transcendence.
Understanding, Coping, and Growing Through Grief
by Collection of Authors – published by HOPE FOR BEREAVED, 4500 Onandaga Blvd., Syracuse, NY 13219 (1995)
A book of helpful articles written by bereaved people for bereaved people and those who want to help them. A superb gift to give to bereaved; helpful to have on hand for resource library.
Understanding Grief
by Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt – published by Accelerated Development Inc. (1992)
A compassionate guide to coping with the death of someone loved, this book helps bereaved people move toward healing by encouraging them to explore their unique journeys into grief and mourning. Throughout, readers are sked specific questions about their grief journeys and encouraged to think about and write down their responses. For support group leaders, the book also includes a nine-session support group model that draws on the earlier chapters in the book for readings and writing exercises.
Why Suicide?
by Eric Marcus – published by HarperCollins (1996)
A nonjudgemental guide for people whose lives have been touched by suicide. It offers practical answers to such related concerns as what to tell others, preventability, and what to do with suicidal feelings.