Families & Friends Affected By Suicide Support Group

Suicide affects not only the individual, but also the family and friends who provide support and love. This community is offered as a place for those affected by suicide to gather and gain strength from each other. PLEASE NOTE: If you are suffering from suicidal thoughts, please take advantage of our CRISIS RESOURCES, which you can find at the bottom of every page of the...

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/ Families & Friends Affected By Suicide Support Group

Our daughter is tormented w/ grief

tdow
tdow
Our almost 25 yo son took his life last month. He had suffered from Bipolar Illness his entire life, much of the time our family was on poor terms w him. Our 28 yo daughter has terrible regrets and lost hopes for his future. She is our only child now and she is upset she doesn't have a sibling. She suffers from society not being as supportive of mental illness as they r w all other illness. She also feels she has received less support than her coworker whose mom died of cancer rather than suicide
I think she will continue to seek a counselor who can understand and our Grief Share group starts next week
tdow
tdow
I am entirely new to this DailyStrength. I am hoping someone will respond to my post from 8/31/12 about our daughter.

She lost her only sibling to suicide 2 months ago, unexpectedly. He had Bipolar Illness.

Has anyone lost a sibling that can give her encouragement that it will get better?
nxtofkin
nxtofkin
So sorry for your loss. I lost my only sibling to suicide 8 years ago, he was my 27 year old brother. I can relate to what your daughter is feeling, especially the regret and fear of being alone in the future. Gods grace has kept me going from day one and He keeps me going everyday. It sounds like she has a supportive mom and that makes a HUGE difference.My mom let me cry, never told me to "be strong' like it was a crime to express pain, and she made me feel as normal as possible.At first its hard to be around parents because seeing their pain is agonizing as it is for you to see hers. Also I felt guilt for being alive and I didnt feel worthy of all the support, I kept thinking of my brothers pain and how I wish I could go back and give him all the support I was receiving. I learned i order to survive I had to let go of guilt and let my parents be parents to me because they needed to more than ever in order to heal. When the guilt creeps in I always ask my self a question, did I love my brother more than anything? The answer is always a big huge YES. Even though we argued, I missed important events, I didnt know how bad he was hurting, i let him down, I still loved him more than anything. He knew it just like im sure her brother knew it too. And not just the mental turmoil they felt counts, the years and years of love between siblings matters more. Learned that fact in suicide survivors counselling. Also try not to associate his memory with suicide. Suicide was how he died not who he was.He was far too important to attach suicide to his memory. It took me 8 years to get counselling and Im finally learning to live again. It will happen with love and support she will learn to live again even if it seems imposible now.Her co workers have no clue of the pain suicide causes and they will hopefully never have to know,but here we all know and can validate and sympathize with her pain. Praying you and your family will find peace and healing on this difficult road. Hugs to you.
tdow
tdow
Thank you so much, Nftofkin! I so appreciate your comments!!
Terri