Supporting a Loved One After a Suicide Attempt Crisis
Supporting a Loved One After a Suicide Attempt Crisis
When a loved one attempts suicide, it can be a traumatic experience for those around them. The emotional turmoil and sense of helplessness can be overwhelming. Christian tradition offers guidance on how to support those in crisis. According to John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, the importance of supporting one another is underscored in Ecclesiastes 4:10, where it is written that "if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow" [1]. This passage emphasizes the need for mutual support and care within a community.
In times of crisis, prayer is often seen as a vital source of comfort and strength. Augustine, a Patristic writer, highlights the importance of prayer in his Confessions, noting that those who are "bereaved and desolate" should commit their "widowhood" to God through "continual and most fervent prayer" [6]. This sentiment is echoed in the Psalms, where the psalmist cries out to God for help, saying "Arise for our help... and redeem us for thy mercies' sake" [2].
Supporting a loved one after a suicide attempt requires a deep understanding of their emotional pain. Jesus' own experience of being "crushed with grief" in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38) provides a model for empathy and compassion [3]. As Matthew Henry, a Nonconformist/Puritan commentator, notes, remembering Jesus' resurrection can encourage believers to remain faithful in the face of suffering [4].
In the early Christian tradition, Augustine counseled against giving up on those who are struggling, using the imagery of a son trying to rouse his lethargic father [5]. This image conveys the need for persistent and loving care for those in crisis. Similarly, in his letter to Boniface, Augustine commends a servant of Christ, Paulus, to his care, demonstrating the importance of entrusting those in need to the support of others [7].
Sources
- Ecclesiastes (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Ecclesiastes 4:10: For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow,.... That is, if anyone of them fall, the other will lift him up, as they are travelling together, in whatsoever manner; if one falls from his horse, or out of his carriage, or into a ditch, the other will endeavour to raise him up again: this, as it is true in a natural, so in a figurative and metaphorical sense, with religious persons especially; "if one of them falls upon the bed, and lies sick,'' as the Targum paraphrases it, his friend and brother in a religions community will visit him, and sympathize w”
- Psalms (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Psalms 44:26: Arise for our help,.... Or, "arise our help" (s). God is the help of his people, and he is a present help in time of trouble; and he is the only one; and he can help and does, when none else can; and redeem us for thy mercies' sake; not for the sake of her integrity and faithfulness; nor for her sufferings for Christ's sake; but for his grace and mercy's sake, which is the source and spring of redemption or deliverance, both temporal and spiritual; and to that the saints ascribe it, and not to any merit of theirs, or works of righteousness done by them. (s) "auxi”
- Matthew (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Matthew 26:38: 26:38 crushed with grief: See John 12:27; cp. Pss 42:5-6, 11; 43:5.”
- 2 Timothy (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 2 Timothy 2:8: I. To encourage Timothy in suffering, the apostle puts him in mind of the resurrection of Christ (Ti2 2:8): Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my gospel. This is the great proof of his divine mission, and therefore a great confirmation of the truth of the Christian religion; and the consideration of it should make us faithful to our Christian profession, and should particularly encourage us in suffering for it. Let suffering saints remember this. Observe, 1. We are to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — SERMON XXXVII. (part 14): He through love of sleep will answer, "I wish to die." And Love from above calls out "I do not wish it." Often does the son exhibit this loving affection to an aged father, though he must needs die in a few days; and is now in extreme old age. If he sees that he is lethargic, and knows from the physician that he is oppressed with a lethargic complaint, who tells him "Arouse your father, do not let him sleep, if you would save his life"! Then will the son come to the old man, and beat, and squeeze, or pinch, or prick h”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — CHAP. XV.--28. There is therefore in us a certain learned ignorance, so to speak--an ignorance which we learn from that Spirit of God who helps our infirmities. For after the apostle said, "If we hope (part 2): bereaved and desolate 469 condition? Whosoever, then, understands that he is in this world bereaved and desolate as long as he is a pilgrim absent from his Lord, is careful to commit his widowhood, so to speak, to his God as his shield in continual and most fervent prayer. Pray, therefore, as a widow of Christ, not yet seeing Him whose hel”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — TO MY LORD BONIFACE,1 MY SON COMMENDED TO THE GUARDIANSHIP AND GUIDANCE OF DIVINE MERCY, FOR PRESENT AND ETERNAL SALVATION AUGUSTIN SENDS GREETING. (part 1): 1. Never could I have found a more trustworthy man, nor one who could have more ready access to your ear when bearing a letter from me, than this servant and minister of Christ, the deacon Paulus, a man very dear to both of us, whom the Lord has now brought to me in order that I may have the opportunity of addressing you, not in reference to your power and the honour which you hold in this e”