Unpacking the meaning of closeness, reconsidering the concept of impact in suicide exposure, and expanding beyond bereavement: “Just, I hope you don’t forget about us”

Suicide exposure research has relied on samples of treatment-seeking kin, resulting in an attachment-based model centering bereavement as the most significant form of impact and obscuring other forms of significant and  life-altering impact. From a community-based sample (N = 3010) exposed to suicide, we examine a subset (n = 104) with perceived high impact from the death yet low reported closeness to the person who died and analyze  qualitative comments (n = 50). On average and out of 5.00, participants rated closeness as 1.56 but impact of death as 4.51. We illustrate dimensions of low closeness and identify themes on the meaning of impact: impact through society and systemic circumstances, impact through history and repeated exposure, impact through other people, impact as a motivator for reflection or change, and impact through shared resonance. Participants  reported impact of death as significant or devastating, yet none of their comments reflected experiences typical of bereavement.