May 08, 2023

Ep. 402 Grief After a Suicide Death: My Personal Story with Karen Wyatt MD

1 hour 33 minutes

Learn the story of my journey with grief after my father’s death by suicide and how it may differ from other grief experiences.

In this solo episode I share the story of my own grief experience after my father died by suicide 34 years ago. This is an ongoing journey that has shifted and changed over the years, teaching me a great deal about life, death and grief. The week this episode airs is the anniversary of Dad’s death, so I’m currently processing it once again and thought I would share the story with you. Hopefully this will be helpful to others who are dealing with grief after suicide or trying to help someone who is grieving. I want to decrease the stigma and shame that surround suicide so that we can get better about asking for, receiving, and giving help to those who are suffering. (Note: There are slides that accompany this talk if you watch on YouTube.)

Get my book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

The shock and numbness of my first year of grief

What I needed from others during my early grieving process

Why I couldn’t talk about my father’s death for a long time

How hospice opened me to finally begin embracing my grief

Why allowing myself to feel anger was difficult but pivotal in my grief process

Why it didn’t really matter what other people said to me during my grief experience

Why I have compassion for people who couldn’t be there for me

How I used rituals and travel to help me with my grief

The devastating guilt that accompanies grief after suicide

How my grief has changed over the years

Links mentioned in this episode:

Get EOLU Podcast Merch here

Conversations on Death with ChatGPT – Audiobook here; Print Book here

Leave me a message by email: [email protected], Twitter, Facebook or Instagram

Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Soul

Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio

Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here

Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and receive free gifts like the “Mind if we talk about death?” mini-poster or Love Your Life sticker or coffee mug. PLUS get our regular bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, occasional movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

Buy me a coffee

Donate on Paypal

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu and to Mark and Cheri McClure for buying me 5 coffees! Your contributions make all the difference.

...more

View all episodes

By Karen Wyatt MD

4.8

158158 ratings