Touched by Suicide

Hope and Healing After Loss

Whether you are struggling with fresh grief at a loved one’s death by suicide or your loss happened years ago, you should know that you are not alone. 5 million Americans are affected—directly or indirectly—by this tragedy each year. And it sends us on a lifelong search for answers, both to the practical questions and the deepest question of all: Why? In this definitive guide book, Michael F. Myers, MD, a leading psychiatrist, and Carla Fine, author of the acclaimed No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One, combine their perspectives as a physician and a survivor to offer compassionate and practical advice to anyone affected by suicide.
Touched by SuicideForeword
by Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D.

Introduction
Making Sense of Suicide

Part One
What Happened? The Aftermath of Suicide

1. The Devastation of Suicide
2. Searching for Reasons

Part Two
What Can I Do? Practical Suggestions for Healing

3. Protecting Your Health
4. Keeping Your Family Together
5. Telling Your Children
6. Coping with Specific Circumstances
7. Reaching Out for Support
8. Getting Help from Mental Health Professionals

Part Three
How Can I Go On? Finding Meaning after Suicide

9. Suicide, Religion, and Spirituality
10. Life-Preserving Ingishts into Suicide and Attempted Suicide
11. Erasing the Stigma of Suicide

Conclusion
Breaking the Silence, Easing the Pain
Appendix A: Resource Directory
Appendix B: Bibliography
Index

Michael F. Myers is the director of the Marital Therapy Clinic at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, BC, and clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. He graduated in medicine from the University of Western Ontario in 1966 and did residencies at the Los Angeles County–USC Medical Center, Wayne State University (Detroit General Hospital), and the University of British Columbia. Since completing his residency training in 1973, he has taught half-time and been in private practice half-time. He is board certified in psychiatry by both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Myers is the author of 6 books: Touched by Suicide: Hope and Healing After Loss (with Carla Fine); The Handbook of Physician Health (with Larry Goldman, MD, and Leah Dickstein, MD); Intimate Relationships in Medical School: How to Make Them Work; How's Your Marriage? A Book for Men and Women; Doctors' Marriages: A Look at the Problems and Their Solutions; and Men and Divorce. His publications also include more than 100 articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and 8 videotapes covering a range of topics: marital therapy, men and reproductive technology, divorce, health concerns of medical students, psychiatric illness in physicians and their loved ones, boundary crossing in the doctor-patient relationship, suicide, sexual assault of women and men, AIDS, the stigma of illness, and gender issues in training and medical practice. View titles by Michael F. Myers
Carla Fine is the author of the books, Married to Medicine: An Intimate Portrait of Doctors' Wives and Barron's Guide to Foreign Medical Schools. She has written articles for CosmopolitanWoman's Day, and Omni, and has appeared on national television programs, as well as on many local TV and radio shows around the country. She lives in New York City. View titles by Carla Fine

About

Whether you are struggling with fresh grief at a loved one’s death by suicide or your loss happened years ago, you should know that you are not alone. 5 million Americans are affected—directly or indirectly—by this tragedy each year. And it sends us on a lifelong search for answers, both to the practical questions and the deepest question of all: Why? In this definitive guide book, Michael F. Myers, MD, a leading psychiatrist, and Carla Fine, author of the acclaimed No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One, combine their perspectives as a physician and a survivor to offer compassionate and practical advice to anyone affected by suicide.

Table of Contents

Touched by SuicideForeword
by Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D.

Introduction
Making Sense of Suicide

Part One
What Happened? The Aftermath of Suicide

1. The Devastation of Suicide
2. Searching for Reasons

Part Two
What Can I Do? Practical Suggestions for Healing

3. Protecting Your Health
4. Keeping Your Family Together
5. Telling Your Children
6. Coping with Specific Circumstances
7. Reaching Out for Support
8. Getting Help from Mental Health Professionals

Part Three
How Can I Go On? Finding Meaning after Suicide

9. Suicide, Religion, and Spirituality
10. Life-Preserving Ingishts into Suicide and Attempted Suicide
11. Erasing the Stigma of Suicide

Conclusion
Breaking the Silence, Easing the Pain
Appendix A: Resource Directory
Appendix B: Bibliography
Index

Author

Michael F. Myers is the director of the Marital Therapy Clinic at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, BC, and clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. He graduated in medicine from the University of Western Ontario in 1966 and did residencies at the Los Angeles County–USC Medical Center, Wayne State University (Detroit General Hospital), and the University of British Columbia. Since completing his residency training in 1973, he has taught half-time and been in private practice half-time. He is board certified in psychiatry by both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Myers is the author of 6 books: Touched by Suicide: Hope and Healing After Loss (with Carla Fine); The Handbook of Physician Health (with Larry Goldman, MD, and Leah Dickstein, MD); Intimate Relationships in Medical School: How to Make Them Work; How's Your Marriage? A Book for Men and Women; Doctors' Marriages: A Look at the Problems and Their Solutions; and Men and Divorce. His publications also include more than 100 articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and 8 videotapes covering a range of topics: marital therapy, men and reproductive technology, divorce, health concerns of medical students, psychiatric illness in physicians and their loved ones, boundary crossing in the doctor-patient relationship, suicide, sexual assault of women and men, AIDS, the stigma of illness, and gender issues in training and medical practice. View titles by Michael F. Myers
Carla Fine is the author of the books, Married to Medicine: An Intimate Portrait of Doctors' Wives and Barron's Guide to Foreign Medical Schools. She has written articles for CosmopolitanWoman's Day, and Omni, and has appeared on national television programs, as well as on many local TV and radio shows around the country. She lives in New York City. View titles by Carla Fine

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