In their own words ...
What happens to those left behind when a friend, family member, or loved one takes their life?
How do the survivors navigate the grieving process?
How do they recover from such a profound trauma?
We can find answers through the tales of the twenty-six contributors to this sensitive collection of brief stories. Mental illness affects everyone. If we don't experience it ourselves, then the odds are that a friend, family member or loved one does. These stories of suicide loss open a window into the lives of those who were left behind once a loved one took their own life.
When those suffering from disorders including depression, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, addictions, and bipolar disorder take their lives, it sets survivors on a grief-filled path toward recovery. Award-winning memoirist Marlayna Glynn has compiled these stories of survival to invite readers to understand the many implications of how survivors are affected when a friend, family member, or loved one takes their life.
Each year in the United States, approximately 40,000 people take their lives, making suicide the tenth leading cause of death for Americans. The number of annual suicides in the United States is double that of the number of homicides. For every completed suicide, there are approximately six survivors.
This means roughly 240,00 suicide loss survivors were created in the United States just this year.