Recipients of Suicide-Related Disclosure: The Link between Disclosure and Posttraumatic Growth for Suicide Attempt Survivors

Frey, Laura M.; Drapeau, Christopher W.; Fulginiti, Anthony; Oexle, Nathalie; Stage, Dese’Rae L.; Sheehan, Lindsay; Cerel, Julie; Moore, Melinda

doi:10.3390/ijerph16203815

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Recipients of Suicide-Related Disclosure: The Link between Disclosure and Posttraumatic Growth for Suicide Attempt Survivors

Laura M. Frey

^1,*

Christopher W. Drapeau

⁴,

⁵

⁶,

⁷

and

Melinda Moore

⁸

Couple & Family Therapy Program, Kent School of Social Work, 136A Burhans Hall, Shelby Campus, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA

Department of Education, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN 46383, USA

Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA

⁴

Department of Psychiatry II, Ulm University and BKH Günzburg, Baden-Württemberg, 89081 Ulm, Germany

⁵

Live Through This, Philadelphia, PA, USA

⁶

Lewis College of Human Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA

⁷

College of social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA

⁸

Department of Psychology, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(20), 3815; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203815

Received: 22 August 2019 / Revised: 1 October 2019 / Accepted: 4 October 2019 / Published: 10 October 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Suicide: Prevention, Intervention and Postvention)

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Abstract

It is important to explore factors that could help or hinder one’s wellbeing following a suicide attempt, which could yield not only negative consequences but also posttraumatic growth (PTG; positive changes following a traumatic event). The present study used a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to test the relationship between disclosure, PTG, and posttraumatic depreciation among suicide attempt survivors when controlling for time since attempt and to test whether these effects remained after controlling for quality of support from family and friends. Suicide attempt survivors (n = 159) completed an online survey about their experiences. Increases in disclosure to family and friends but not to healthcare providers predicted changes in PTG. The effects of family disclosure remained even after controlling for quality of support. Disclosure to healthcare providers demonstrated some statistical effects on PTG, yet in the opposite direction and only after controlling for quality of support. The control variables—time since attempt and quality of support—were the only variables that predicted a change in posttraumatic depreciation. These findings suggest there is value in disclosing one’s personal story to family regardless of whether one receives supportive responses and that social support can impact one’s PTG. View Full-Text

Keywords: family dynamics; lived experience; posttraumatic growth; suicide disclosure; suicide prevention

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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MDPI and ACS Style

Frey, L.M.; Drapeau, C.W.; Fulginiti, A.; Oexle, N.; Stage, D.L.; Sheehan, L.; Cerel, J.; Moore, M. Recipients of Suicide-Related Disclosure: The Link between Disclosure and Posttraumatic Growth for Suicide Attempt Survivors. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 3815. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203815

AMA Style

Frey LM, Drapeau CW, Fulginiti A, Oexle N, Stage DL, Sheehan L, Cerel J, Moore M. Recipients of Suicide-Related Disclosure: The Link between Disclosure and Posttraumatic Growth for Suicide Attempt Survivors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(20):3815. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203815

Chicago/Turabian Style

Frey, Laura M., Christopher W. Drapeau, Anthony Fulginiti, Nathalie Oexle, Dese’Rae L. Stage, Lindsay Sheehan, Julie Cerel, and Melinda Moore. 2019. "Recipients of Suicide-Related Disclosure: The Link between Disclosure and Posttraumatic Growth for Suicide Attempt Survivors" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 20: 3815. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203815

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