Stronger Than Death : When Suicide Touches Your Life

A psychiatrist shares her professional understanding of suicide and relates her own experiences of anguish, guilt, anger, and healing following the death of her twenty-five-year-old son in a chronicle for survivors, families, and professionals.

On November 16, 1984, Sue Chance's son committed suicide. In this vivid personal account of the aftermath of that event, she shares her pain, guilt, and anger, her expertise as a psychiatrist, and her methods for healing. With incredible power and honesty, she speaks to other survivors of a loved one's suicide, as well as to anyone who has ever contemplated suicide, weaving her personal experience with practical information about "normal" reactions among suicide survivors. For nine months following her son's death, Dr. Chance kept a journal. Excerpts from that journal convey the immediacy and intensity of her reactions and chronicle her steps toward recovery. While rich in strategies for getting on with life, the book does nothing to minimize the turmoil and searing grief experienced by survivors. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people in the United States are added to the ranks of suicide survivors each year. These individuals need the message of this book to know that they are, indeed, stronger than death.