Some of the most common emotions people report feeling when coping with a loved one’s suicide include:
Shock
Severe Depression
Anger
Relief
Guilt
Confronting the Why
Most, if not all, victims of suicide were suffering from an acute mental illness.
Mental illness causes the chemicals and neurotransmitters in the brain to malfunction in ways they are unable to control.
It was their illness that caused them to feel the compulsion to end their life.
Your loved one did not choose to become ill, and they would not have chosen to end their life had their illness not been pushing them to do so.
You do not need to wonder why their friends and family were not enough to keep them around, or why they would want to give up on whatever promising future they may have had.
Illness does not have a sense of any of those things—and in the end, their illness is what ended their life.
Understanding this will not make the loss hurt any less, but it may help to reconcile some of the confusion so you can grieve a little more peacefully.
