Loss and grief

Losing someone to suicide

Losing someone you loved to suicide. The particular grief that comes with that kind of loss, which carries its own questions, its own guilt, its own anger, and its own silence. The things left unsaid and the things you will never stop wondering.

Losing someone to suicide carries questions that have no answers and a silence that other deaths do not impose. Survivors often hold guilt, anger, and love simultaneously, while the people around them avoid the subject entirely. You do not have to protect anyone from this topic here. It can be spoken about plainly, which is often where healing finally starts.

What can follow an experience like this

No two people carry the same experience the same way. These are some of the effects that people with this experience often describe. Having some of them, all of them, or none of them says nothing about how real what happened to you was.

Insomnia Difficulty falling asleep. Depression Not just sadness. Shame Not guilt about something you did. Anxiety The background hum of dread that is always there. Survivor's guilt A persistent sense that you should not have survived, or should have done more, or that your survival came at someone else's expense. Prolonged grief Grief that did not follow the expected path. Addiction Addiction is not a moral failure. Suicidal thoughts Thoughts about not existing anymore.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

Find a meeting Join the fellowship

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