YOUNG PEOPLE ASK -What If My Sibling Has Committed Suicide?

Karen's life changed the day her father broke the news.  "Sheila's gone" was all he could say.  Karen and her dad fell into each other's arms, both trying to make sense out of an utterly senseless act.  Karen's sister had taken her own life. 

WHEN a young person dies, well-meaning comforters often focus on the parents.  They ask the brothers or sisters of the deceased,  "How are your dad and mom coping?"  It's for good reason, then, that surviving siblings have been called forgotten mourners.

Research shows that the death of a sibling had profound impact on young ones.  "Such a major loss adversely affects surviving children's health, behavior, schoolwork, self-esteem, and development," writes Dr. P. Gill While in her book Sibling Grief-Healing After the Death of a Sister or Brother. 

Older youths are affected too.  Karen, mentioned above was 22 years old, when Sheila, her youngest sister, took her life. Nevertheless, at times her grief seemed unbearable.  "I can't claim that I suffered more then my parents," she says,  "but I think I was less able to deal with the suffering than they were."

Have you, like Karen,  lost a sibling in death? If so, you may feel as did the psalmist David, who wrote:  "I have become disconcerted, I have bowed low to an extreme degree; all day long I have walked about sad." (Psalm 38:6)   How can you cope with your grief?  

Next time: YOUNG PEOPLE ASK - What If My Sibling Has Committed Suicide?/"If Only . . ." 

From the Awake! magazine