Suggestions for reads for survivor of suicide?

maureeno · Jan 31, 2003

dawngloves, check out this link. the national group has links to local support groups and a telephone line. other survivors can best recommend reading material. my best wishes to you and your sister.

http://www.nami.org

vettech · Jan 31, 2003

Originally posted by dawngloves
My sister just lost a good friend to suicide secondary to PPD. Any books out there to help her recover or help me to help her. This is so hard for all of us and I'm running out of words. TIA!

"Ghost Rider - Journeys on the Healing Road" by Neil Peart. The author is the drummer for the band Rush. His only child (daughter Selena) died in a car wreck on her way to college for the first time. Nine months later his wife, Jackie, succumbed to cancer (or of "a broken heart" according to the author).

The book opens 6 months after Jackie's death as he's trying to put his life back together. He decides what he needs to be on the road for a while (from a previous book we know he often takes month long cycling tours with groups in exotic lands). So, he packs up his motorcycle and sets out alone, with only vague ideas of where or for how long. He ends up riding from Ontario to northern Alaska then down all the way to Belize. Along the way he describes his healing process.

I would reccomend the book for anyone who has gone through a signifigant change in their lives. In the past 18 months I've quit smoking, lost 50lbs, started going to the gym/dieting, started back to school and have all but beaten depression.

Although my life has not expereinced a powerful tragedy as Neil's has, I still found many commonalities and identified with many of his feelings. In particular, he uses the term "the other guy" to refer to the person he was before. He talks of having to rediscover the things "the other guy" likes and see if HE likes them. I have been doing much of the same.

The book is not usually in bookstores but Amazon should have it.

Big hugs for your sister.