Adeja Greig

SO 305

Professor Livingston

10 December 2014

Variables Influencing Grief: Suicide

For my research topic I explored Types of Death specifically Suicide and survivors grief and bereavement, I wanted to find out about suicide bereavement is different from other types of death. I chose this topic because after learning about variables influencing grief and modes of death I wanted to focus on suicide because this year one of my roommates suffered the loss of her best friend by suicide and her grieving process was one that impacted not only me but also the rest of our friend group, I had never in my life witnessed someone go through as much pain as she did, from the day she got the call and heard the tragic news about her friend it has left an impact on my life and I thought that this topic would be best for me to get a better understanding on suicide and the grieving process that survivors experience. This topic is relative in a sociological perspective because not only do we focus on death itself, but we also focus on modes of death and the variables that influence how individuals grieve. I will cover the means and sociological side of suicide as well as variables influencing grief and survivors grief and breTherefore I will cover Suicide, the meaning and theories surrounding it, survivors’ grief and bereavement, whether or not the mode of death affects the way survivors grieve. First I wanted to focus on suicide itself, we are all naturally aware of what suicide means, however there are multiple definitions of suicide, first is the definition that were all closely familiar with, “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally, especially by a person of years of discretion and a sound of mind” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The second definition is of a different type of suicide, ‘Altruistic Suicide’ which, “is the giving of one’s life for others or for a greater good--- has occurred since human beings first banded together in clans” (DeSpelder 447). Suicide is a broad topic and there is no easy way to understand or comprehend suicide, when we hear of cases or situations of people committing suicide the main