Loneliness and Disturbed Grief: a Comparison of Parents who Lost a Child to Suicide or Accidental Death

Grief reactions of 2 types of sudden untimely deaths were compared: the loss of a child by accidental death & the loss of a child by suicidal death. The degree of disturbed grief & the degree of lonelinesss in parents who lost a child to suicidal death were compared to those reactions in parents who lost a child to accidental death. The findings indicate that all such parents are at high risk for disturbed grief & loneliness, & at even higher risk when the loss is a result of suicide.