[WITHDRAWN] Examining the Processes of Meaning-Making Among Suicide Loss Survivors: Expanding the Meaning of Loss Codebook Using Reddit Data

Background and Purpose:

Coping with suicide loss is a uniquely challenging experience for those left behind. The intentional nature of suicide can complicate the process of finding meaning and making sense of the loss. To better understand this process, this study examines how survivors of suicide loss (SOSL) reconstruct meaning in the aftermath of a loved one's death. Specifically, the study use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze the narratives of SOSL’s Reddit posts using the Meaning of Loss Codebook (MLC). Although the MLC has been found to be a valuable tool in examining the process of making meaning in many accounts of loss, its usage in the context of suicide bereavement has been relatively limited. Through this analysis, the study identifies specific challenges faced by SOSL in the meaning-making process and proposes additional MLC codes to address these challenges. The findings not only contribute to our understanding of how SOSL cope with the loss of a loved one, but also validate the use of the MLC as a tool for studying this population.

Methods:

Reddit posts were extracted using the Reddit API from suicide-related communities including r/SuicideBereavement and r/SuicideWatch. We included only posts on suicide loss (e.g., “My brother killed himself”). We combined NLP and qualitative techniques to analyze 1,100 posts made by SOSL between 2010 to 2023, studying their mean reconstruction in suicide bereavement. MLC provided a comprehensive account of the themes expressed by individuals experiencing bereavement, such as Negative Affect and Lack of Understanding. Using close-readings of text, word embeddings, and lexicons, we categorized meaning units according to the existing MLC codes whenever possible and suggested new codes when the MLC codes did not adequately capture the unique responses of participants.

Results:

The narratives of the SOSL from 1,100 Reddit posts represent a broad range of relationships that include friends (50%), parents (13%), siblings (9%), and spouse (3%). The analysis showed that the existing MLC codes were suitable for most participants who experienced suicide loss. Popular codes included Spirituality and Negative Affect. However, some participants' experiences couldn't be classified with the current MLC, suggesting a need for new codes. These new codes reflect processes of meaning reconstruction that are experienced by SOSL but are not captured by the existing MLC codes for broader grieving processes. These codes include Aversion to Familiar objects, Stigma of Suicide, and Restoration-Oriented coping.

Conclusions:
It is essential to comprehend the unique grieving and meaning-making mechanisms of individuals who have lost someone to suicide to create support services that are effective. The MLC framework has been applied to study how people construct meaning following various types of loss but not specifically for suicide loss. The results of this study improve our overall comprehension of how individuals make sense of suicide loss, provide evidence for the suitability of the MLC framework in studying SOSL, and highlight the distinct difficulties that SOSL encounter. The current study also discovered new codes that could be beneficial in trauma-informed and attachment-informed bereavement interventions for those bereaved by suicide.