Linguistic Features of Suicide Bereavement
A Data Mining Approach
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13629378 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Grace Mei Yi Ooi (James Cook University), Kai Qin Chan (0000-0002-7369-9380, James Cook University, corresponding author), Avantika Bhatia (0000-0002-9951-6140, Metanoia Institute) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 302228261428763-302228261428763 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00302228261428763 |
| PMID | 41774560 |
| OpenAlex | W7133524817 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 93 |
Suicide bereavement is a uniquely challenging form of loss, yet little is known about how it is expressed in language and how it reflects the meaning-making process. Here, we leveraged naturalistic online language to capture grief expressions beyond traditional help-seeking populations, applying a validated computational text-analysis method (LIWC-22) to 713 posts from the r/SuicideBereavement subreddit and comparing them to 1149 bereavement posts in the r/GriefSupport subreddit. Compared to other bereaved individuals, suicide-loss survivors used more cognitive processing words, reflecting deeper engagement in meaning-making, and displayed distinct attentional focus, frequently revisiting the past and the deceased's life to make sense of the loss. They also expressed greater anger and interpersonal conflict, and used language emphasizing collective and relational aspects of grief. These findings illuminate transdiagnostic processes relevant to bereavement, advancing understanding of suicide loss and suggests new avenues for monitoring and supporting survivors' adjustment in online and community-based postvention contexts
Anger · Cognition · Grief · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Naturalistic observation · Poison control · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Mental Health via Writing · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy
Language use of depressed and depression-vulnerable college students
The Incidence and Course of Depression in Bereaved Youth 21 Months After the Loss of a Parent to Suicide, Accident, or Sudden Natural Death
The varieties of grief experience
Cognitive, Emotional, and Language Processes in Disclosure
Meaning Making and Growth
Psychological Aspects of Natural Language Use
The Impact of Suicide on the Family
Suicide bereavement and complicated grief
Trauma and bereavement
Is Suicide Bereavement Different? A Reassessment of the Literature
Prevalence of exposure to suicide
Target Article
Key issues, challenges, and preferred supports for those bereaved by suicide
The Perceived Roles of God during Suicide Bereavement
Suicidal ideation detection on social media
Early Linguistic Markers of Trauma-Specific Processing Predict Post-trauma Adjustment
Essential Questions on Suicide Bereavement and Postvention
The Effects of Expressive Writing on Adjustment to HIV
Predictors of Complicated Grief
A Social Constructionist Account of Grief
Clinical work with suicide loss survivors
Toward an Experiential Theory of Bereavement
Internet Support Groups for Suicide Survivors
Letter Writing as a Clinical Tool in Grief Psychotherapy
Bereavement after Suicide
Six-Year Longitudinal Predictors of Posttraumatic Growth in Parentally Bereaved Adolescents and Young Adults
Maintaining Relational Continuity with the Deceased on Facebook
Exploring the Support Needs of People Bereaved by Suicide
The Process of Long-Term Suicide Bereavement
Meaning-making after partner suicide
The Religious Life During Suicide Bereavement
Are youth suicide memorial sites on Facebook different from those for other sudden deaths
Measuring Meaning
The Experiences of Mothers Bereaved by Suicide
Complicated grief after suicide bereavement and other causes of death
Adolescents' Online Social Networking Following the Death of a Peer
From Sense-Making to Meaning-Making
AI and Technology in Grief Support
Suicide Loss Survivors′ Experiences with Therapy
Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement
Life Will Never Be the Same Again
Explaining Away
Self-focused attention and negative affect
How the Internet is changing the experience of bereavement by suicide
The Psychological Meaning of Words
Word Use in Emotional Narratives about Failed Romantic Relationships and Subsequent Mental Health
Tales of biographical disintegration
Those Who are Left Behind
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |